Yale Athletics

The Yale Women’s and Men’s Tennis teams were both in action at their respective Ivy League ITA Masters Qualifying tournaments this past weekend. The women’s team traveled to Philadelphia where Penn was hosting the Women’s Ivy League Masters, and the men hosted at home at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in New Haven. 

On the women’s side, four Bulldogs took the court. On Friday, Julia Werdiger ’28 started the day off by collecting a 6–1, 6–1 victory over Carolyn Brodsky of Columbia to move into the round of 16. Shyla Aggarwal ’27 was also victorious, taking down Cornell’s Victoria Zhao 6–3, 6–2 to advance. Ann Wright Guerry ’26 finished off the day in singles for Yale by cruising to a 6–2, 6–1 victory over Columbia’s Amber Yin. 

The second day of the tournament brought more Bulldog wins. Aggarwal won her first match of the day 6–1, 7–6 over Columbia’s Emily Baek before dispatching Isabella Chhiv of Princeton, 6–4, 6–2 to earn a spot in the semifinals. 

Guerry had a very successful day as well, claiming two victories to also earn her spot in the semifinals. First, she came out on top of Dartmouth’s Sam Grosjean in three sets, winning 6–3, 3–6, 6–2. From there, she rolled right over Princeton’s Eva Elbaz 6-1, 6–3 to advance to Sunday. 

Werdiger won her first match over Penn’s Gavriella Smith 6–7, 6–4, 7–6 to earn her spot in the quarterfinals, but then fell to Princeton’s Alice Feritito 6–4, 6–3 to end her tournament. 

In doubles, Aggarwal and Erin Ha ’27 came off a first-round bye to capture an 8–3 victory over Dartmouth’s Elise Wong and Sam Grosjean to advance to the semifinals the following day. 

On the event’s third day, the ‘Dogs kept dominating in singles. Aggarwal first downed Princeton’s Alice Fertito 6–4, 6–4 to lock up her final spot before Guerry claimed the second spot in the finals by defeating Columbia’s Winta Tewolde, 6–3, 6–2. 

In doubles, Aggarwal and Ha fell to Princeton’s Pearlie Zhang and Isabella Chhiv 6–2, 7–7 (7–3) after a hard-fought match. 

On Monday, the Bulldogs returned home to play the finals match on their home court due to both competitors being from Yale. Aggarwal was victorious over Guerry, winning 6–2, 6–1 to claim the Ivy League ITA Masters Championship and punch her ticket to the ITA Masters Championship. 

“I’m super happy about how the weekend went overall and how I played. It’s really rewarding especially when the season gets tiring, but I’m excited to hopefully finish the season strong in Georgia,” Aggarwal wrote to the News. “I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to play against some top players in the country and represent Yale!” 

Aggarwal will compete at the ITA Master’s Championship in Rome, Georgia, from Nov. 7 through Nov. 10. 

On the men’s side, the Bulldogs had five men competing in the Ivy League Masters this weekend. On the first day of the tournament, Yale went a perfect 4-0 in singles. Edward Liao ’28 started it out by triumphing over Penn’s Sanjeev Chundu 6–4, 6–4. 

Jim Ji ’27 followed that up by steamrolling Penn’s Shaurya Bharadwaj 6–1, 6–2. Jason Shuler ’28 also won in straight sets, defeating Brown’s Lukas Phimvongsa 6–1, 6–2. Renaud Lefevre ’26 was able to pull out a win against Harvard’s Masato Perera 6–1, 4–6, 6–1. 

On the second day, Liao and Ji were both victorious once again, with Liao beating Dartmouth’s Yujiro Onuma 6–3, 6–4, and Ji easily handling Milan Markovits of Princeton, 6–2, 6–3. Shuler and Lefevre both came up just short however, with Shuler falling to Princeton’s Evan Wen 7–5, 6–4, and Lefevre losing in three sets to Princeton’s Alan Kam 7–5, 3–6, 7–6 (7–2). 

In doubles, Shuler partnered with the ITA New England Regionals Champion, Vignesh Gogineni ’26, to claim two victories and advance to the finals. First, they opened the day with an 8–6 win over Dartmouth’s Denny Bao and Carlos Guerrero Alvarez. The pair followed that up with an easy 8–3 victory over Brown’s Luka Butera and Sanjeev Chundu, cementing their spot in the finals the following day. 

In the quarterfinal round, Ji was again victorious, defeating Petar Teodorovic of Cornell in three sets, 6–1, 2–6, 6–4. Liao, however, fell to Cornell’s Rodrigo Fernandes after battling for three sets 4–6, 7–5, 6–3. 

In the semifinals, Ji avenged his teammate Shuler’s loss by rolling right over Fernandes in straight sets, advancing to the final by winning 7–6 (14-12), 6–2. 

In doubles, Gogineni and Shuler started strong in the finals match against Alan Kam and Evan Wen of Princeton, but ended up falling to them 4–6, 7–6 (10–8), 10–6. 

On the final day of the event, Ji faced Carlos Guerrero Alvarez of Dartmouth for the chance to advance to the ITA Masters tournament. As he did all week long, Ji again easily handled his business by triumphing over Alvarez 6–3, 6–2, and was named champion of the Ivy League ITA Masters. 

Ji will now compete at the ITA Masters in San Diego, California, from Nov. 7 through Nov. 10.