LYMAN TENNIS CENTER – The University of Rochester men's tennis team opened its dual match season on Wednesday afternoon with a strong showing in an 8-1 victory over Division II Roberts Wesleyan College.
 
Two Yellowjackets were double-winners in the match, with Yifan Shen and Tanmay Thakkar picking up singles and doubles victories.  The duo combined to earn an 8-4 win at #1 doubles, and then each posted straight set wins in singles.  Shen won at #1 over Benjamin Davis 6-1, 6-0, while Thakkar played #2 and was a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Dennis Barlotta.
 
Doubles was a 3-0 sweep for Rochester (1-0).  Besides the Shen and Thakkar win, Sahaj Somani and Pasquale Procaccino earned a hard-fought 8-6 win at #2 while Michael Rudin and Connor Wagner won 8-2 at 3rd doubles.
 
In singles, Matt Resnikoff won the opening point, blanking his opponent 6-0, 6-0 at #6, setting up Shen's win at the top spot to be the clinching point.
 
Peter Huang won 6-1, 6-1 over Harmett Luthra to make it 6-0 and Thakkar's point was the seventh in a row for UR.  First-year Kai Yuminaga also won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4 over Matthew Forest at #3.
 
Roberts Wesleyan (0-2) avoided the shutout when Matthew Cruz outlasted Somani at #4 in the only three set singles match of the day.  Cruz opened with a 6-3 win, Somani took the second 7-5, with the tiebreaker going Cruz's way 10-8.
 
Rochester is finished with dual match competition for the fall semester, but will return to action at the ITA Regional Championships this weekend, with the tournament running Friday through Sunday at Hobart College.