Balaji and Smith Claim Big Ten Indoor Doubles Title

11/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis

Nov. 4, 2012

Big Ten Indoors Results (PDF)

MADISON, Wis. - Sidarth Balaji and Raleigh Smith teamed up to win the doubles title at the Big Ten Indoor Championships on Sunday at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium.

The pair took down the third-seeded team of Michael Zhu and Barrett Franks of Michigan by a score of 8-4 in the championship match to finish a perfect 4-0 on the weekend and claim the crown.

Smith's big day continued as he also advanced to Monday's championship match in singles. Seeded fourth, he was slated to take on Balaji in the quarterfinals but was awarded a win by default before knocking off 11th-seeded Petr Satral of Wisconsin 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the right to play for the title.

Smith will square off against fifth-seeded Oskar Wikberg of Wisconsin, a 6-0, 6-1 semifinal winner over Illinois' third-seeded Bruno Abdelnour.

Also in action on Sunday in the back draw, Mihir Kumar opened his day by narrowly edging Aaron Pfister of Michigan State by a score of 6-7 (1), 7-5, (10-8). He was then involved with another thriller with Jonas Dierckx of Iowa but just came up on the short end of a 7-6 (6), 4-6, (10-8) decision.

For more information on the Big Ten Indoor Championships, visit the tournament website.

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