Northwestern’s fall season kicked off with a trip northward on Interstate 49 at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic on September 29.
Graduate student Saiprakash Goli and sophomore Owen Megargee were the lone participants for the Wildcats. The two competed individually in singles and paired up as a doubles team.
In the first round of the singles draw, NU saw mixed results. While Goli dispatched Marquette’s Cyrus Ahmad 6-4, 7-5, Megargee fell to DePaul’s Quang Vinh Nguyen in a 7-5, 6-1 defeat.
Goli rolled past Western Michigan’s Solomon Dunsirn in the second round, defeating him 6-3, 6-4. In the quarterfinals, Goli finally dropped a set, holding off DePaul’s Pablo Torres Almeida to take the match. Goli won 6-2, 6(3)-7, 6-1.
Goli met his match in the semifinals, where Western Michigan’s Anton Arzhankin bested him 6-2, 6-4. Arzhankin is ranked inside the ITA’s preseason top 100 and was named to last year’s First Team All-MAC.
In the consolation draw, Megargee handily defeated Nebraska’s Henry Bilicic 6-1, 6-4 but then fell to Ohio State’s redshirt freshman and former top-20 recruit Alex Fuchs.
Amidst his deep run into the singles semifinals, Goli — partnered with Megargee — reached the semifinals of the doubles draw.
The duo dominated in the first round, defeating DePaul’s Tobias Leitner and Matteo Iaquinto 6-2. The pairing’s quarterfinal match was won by just one break, as they beat Notre Dame’s Yu Zhang and Jameson Corsillo 6-4.
Goli and Megargee reached the end of their road when they ran into Big Ten foes in the semifinals. Wisconsin’s Patrik Meszaros and Michael Minasyan edged the ’Cats’ duo 6-4 to earn a spot in the final.
NU’s fall season continues with the ITA Regional Championships — held at Michigan State — starting on Oct. 10.
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