Competing at the Dick Johnson Open at Cornell University’s Reis Tennis Center—where Senthil Kumar stars as a sophomore for the Cornell Big Red—the teenager from Tamil Nadu entered the tournament week at a new career-high singles ranking of 1007 on the October 19 rankings rollover. Both Senthil Kumar and Gogineni also booked spots in the doubles quarterfinals earlier in the week, setting up a busy 4-match Thursday slate across singles and doubles.

Drawing 24-year-old American Micah Braswell (USA, 1136)—a multi-time NCAA All-American at the University of Texas who held the No. 1 spot in the ITA Division 1 national singles rankings during his collegiate career and reached a career-high pro ranking of 411 in May 2025—Senthil Kumar (IND, 1007) dictated play from the baseline on Court 1. Adapting seamlessly to the familiar indoor bounce at the Reis Tennis Center, the 19-year-old Indian closed out both sets by identical 6-3 margins to seal his spot in the last 16.

The singles win capped a 2-for-2 opening to the week in Ithaca for Senthil Kumar. On Tuesday, October 20, he teamed up with fellow Indian and Cornell teammate Rushil Khosla (IND, UNR) in the doubles Round of 16 on Court 6, where the unseeded Indian duo defeated Canadians Joshua Peck (CAN, 875) and Felix Roussel (CAN, 2221) 7-5, 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals. Earlier in singles qualifying, Khosla defeated Ecuador’s Alejandro Jacome Jaramillo 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round on October 19 before falling to American wildcard Connor Plunkett 2-6, 2-6 in the final qualifying round on October 20.

Senthil Kumar’s breakthrough against a former collegiate No. 1 in Ithaca builds directly on a standout past 12 months of NCAA Division 1 tennis at Cornell University. After becoming the youngest Indian men’s national hard-court champion since 2005 at age 17 in late 2024, the Jain International Residential School alumnus joined fellow Indian Rushil Khosla on the Big Red roster for the 2025–26 academic year and immediately became an anchor in head coach Silviu Tanasoiu’s lineup.

During his 2025–26 freshman season, Senthil Kumar earned 2nd-Team All-Ivy League honors in both singles and doubles. Competing primarily at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions, he compiled a 24-6 overall singles record, an impressive 14-2 mark in dual-match play, and a flawless 6-0 record across Ivy League conference matches. He finished the spring campaign by winning 14 of his final 15 singles outings—highlighted by a clinching 3-set victory to seal a 4-3 team triumph over Penn and straight-set conference wins against Harvard and Columbia—while partnering with Khosla to post a 20-6 overall doubles mark (15-5 in dual matches, 5-1 in Ivy League play) as Cornell advanced to the 2nd round of the NCAA Team Tournament.

Returning to Ithaca as a sophomore this fall, Senthil Kumar elevated his collegiate resume even further on October 12, 2026. Seeded 2nd and ranked No. 67 in the preseason ITA national doubles rankings, Khosla and Senthil Kumar went 6-0 across 5 days at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to win the 2026 ITA Division 1 Men’s New England Regional Doubles Championship. After edging Brown’s 15th-seeded Ivan Sodan and Robert Yang 6-4, 7-6(2) in the semifinals, the all-Indian Cornell pair defeated Harvard’s 3rd-seeded and 74th-ranked Indian-origin American Rohan Murali and Kolos Kincses 6-3, 6-3 in the championship match—securing Cornell’s 3rd straight regional doubles crown and an automatic berth into the 2026 NCAA Division 1 Men’s Tennis Doubles Championships at the University of Georgia from November 17 to 22.

Joining Senthil Kumar in the singles Round of 16 is 6th-seeded Indian-origin American Vignesh Gogineni (USA, 753), who dispatched Cornell freshman Cezar Gabriel Papoe (ROU, 998) 6-3, 6-2 on Court 4 on Wednesday. Gogineni—who went 28-8 at No. 1 singles to earn 1st-Team All-Ivy League honors in both singles and doubles at Yale University in 2025–26 before winning the ITF M25 Edwardsville title and peaking at a career-high ranking of 746 in September 2026—struck 4 aces against 0 double faults, won 68% of his 1st-serve points, and converted 100% of his break-point opportunities.

Later on Wednesday afternoon on Court 3, 2nd seeds Jack Anthrop (USA, 728) and Vignesh Gogineni (USA, 554) advanced to the doubles quarterfinals with a 7-6(5), 6-2 victory over Switzerland’s Nikola Djosic (SUI, 2230) and American Matt Kuhar (USA, 641), edging a tight opening-set tiebreak 7-5 before racing through the 2nd set.

In Thursday’s singles Round of 16 opener on Court 4 at 7:30 PM IST (10:00 AM EDT), Rethin Pranav Senthil Kumar (IND, 1007) takes on 19-year-old Canadian qualifier and University of Kentucky player Nicolas Arseneault (CAN, 1066), who peaked at a career-high ranking of 491 in August 2025 and eliminated 3rd seed Tomasz Berkieta 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(1) in Wednesday’s opening round. Later on Thursday on Court 6, Khosla and Senthil Kumar meet 4th seeds Henry Lieberman (USA, 774) and Logan Zapp (USA, 1941) in the doubles quarterfinals.

On Court 1, 6th seed Vignesh Gogineni (USA, 753) faces 23-year-old Hungarian left-hander Zsombor Velcz (HUN, 889) in the 2nd match of the day following the 7:30 PM IST (10:00 AM EDT) opener, before returning to Court 1 alongside Jack Anthrop (USA, 728) for their doubles quarterfinal against Cornell duo Rodrigo Fernandes (POR, 1648) and Eric David Verdes (ROU, UNR).