{"id":272743,"date":"2025-11-09T20:19:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T20:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/272743\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T20:19:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T20:19:09","slug":"michael-zheng-secures-bid-to-ncaa-singles-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/272743\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Zheng Secures Bid to NCAA Singles Championships"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u200bSAN DIEGO \u2013 The reigning NCAA Singles Champion, Michael Zheng<\/a>, secured his berth to defend his crown on Saturday. The native of Montville, N.J., won two matches at the ITA Conference Masters at the Barnes Tennis Center.
\n\u200b
\nPlaying in just his second match of the fall season for Columbia, Zheng opened the tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Mikalai Bankou. Bankou jumped out to an early lead in the opening set, but Zheng rallied for the straight-sets win.
\n\u200b
\nIn the quarterfinals, Zheng faced off against Elon’s Velkjo Krstic. The winner of that match was guaranteed one of the spots in the 64-player NCAA Championships, which starts later this month in Lake Nona, Fla. Zheng battled his way to a tight win in the opening set, winning 7-6(7-6). He made quick work of Krstic in the second set, winning 6-1.
\n\u200b
\nAt the ITA East Sectional Championships in Chapel Hill, N.C., Sachin Palta<\/a> came up just short of securing a berth at the NCAA Singles Championships. Palta won his opening round matchup over second-seeded Lucas Andrade da Silva from South Carolina, winning 6-2, 6-1.
\n\u200b
\nIn the round of 16, Palta fell to UNC’s Niels Ratiu. Palta lost the opening set 6-3, but took the second set 6-3 before falling 6-2 in the third and final set.
\n\u200b
\nNicolas Kotzen<\/a> had a strong run in the consolation bracket before pulling out in the consolation final. In the round of 32, Kotzen was upset by NC State’s William Manning, falling 6-3, 7-6(7-2), 7-6(7-5).
\n\u200b
\nIn the consolation round of 16, he bounced back with a straight-sets win over Liberty’s Ben Sparks, winning 6-1, 6-2. After a bye, Kotzen defeated Princeton’s Sebastian Sec 7-6(7-4), 6-3.
\n\u200b
\nZheng will find out his draw on Saturday, Nov. 15, when the NCAA announces the brackets at 6 p.m. ET. The first round of the NCAA Singles Championships begins on Tuesday, Nov. 18.<\/p>\n

\u200bITA MASTERS RESULTS

\nThursday Main Draw

\nR32 Michael Zheng<\/a> (Columbia) BYE

\nR16 Michael Zheng<\/a> (Columbia) def. Mikalai Bankou (South Carolina State), 6-4, 6-3

\n\u200b

\nFriday Main Draw

\nQF Michael Zheng<\/a> (Columbia) def. Veljko Krstic (Elon), 7-6(7-6), 6-1<\/p>\n

\n\u200b
\nITA EAST SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RESULTS

\nThursday Main Draw
\nR32 William Manning (NC State) def. Nicolas Kotzen<\/a> (Columbia) 6-3, 6-7(2-7), 7-6(7-5)
\nR32 Sachin Palta<\/a> (Columbia) def. Lucas Andrea de Silva (South Carolina), 6-2, 6-1
\n\u200b
\nFriday

\nMain Draw
\nR16 Niels Ratiu (UNC) def. Sachin Palta<\/a> (Columbia), 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
\nConsolation Draw
\nR16 Nicolas Kotzen<\/a> (Columbia) def. Ben Sparks (Liberty), 6-1, 6-2
\n\u200b
\nSaturday

\nConsolation Draw
\nQF Nicolas Kotzen<\/a> (Columbia) def. Sebastian Sec (Princeton), 7-6(7-4), 6-3
\n\u200b
\nFOLLOWING THE LIONS
\nStay up to date on all things Columbia Men’s Tennis by following the Lions on X (@CULionsMTEN), Instagram (@culionsmten) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).
\n\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u200bSAN DIEGO \u2013 The reigning NCAA Singles Champion, Michael Zheng, secured his berth to defend his crown on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-272743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}