Ardila, Inchauspe Lead Princeton Past No. 12 Columbia 4-3 To Win ECAC Championship

Sunday, February 15

Princeton, NJ

3:00 PM

Princeton University

Columbia

Ardila, Inchauspe Lead Princeton Past No. 12 Columbia 4-3 To Win ECAC Championship

February 15, 2026 | Men's Tennis

So here was the situation, as the scintillating Princeton-Columbia ECAC men's championship match pushed past the three-hour mark: The outcome of the tournament, as well as a chance to end of a 14-match losing streak to the Lions, was on the racket of Landon Ardila.

Princeton couldn't have been in better hands.

A wild afternoon-turned-evening that sounded more like a rock concert than a tennis match went Princeton's way, as Ardila came through to take the deciding third set and give the Tigers a thrilling 4-3 win over No. 12 Columbia. With the win Princeton got the ECAC championship trophy and banner — not to mention the distinction of having ended that 14-match losing streak to Columbia.

ECAC Champs!!! pic.twitter.com/bg9O4h2PGI
— Princeton Men's Tennis (@ptonmenstennis) February 16, 2026

Ardila's third set had just gotten underway when Columbia evened the match at 3-3 with a win at No. 5. If he was in any way fazed by the moment, he never showed. In fact, Ardila never flinched once as he rolled through the third set, taking down Sachin Palta 6-7, 7-5, 6-1. Palta, the No. 37 player in the most recent ITA singles rankings, fought off a set point to take the first set before Ardila won the next two, closing it out in exactly three hours.

If Ardila's match was the clincher, the highlight of the day was the match at No. 1 singles, where Princeton's seventh-ranked Paul Inchausepe and Columbia's third-ranked Michael Zheng met in a rematch of their NCAA singles semifinal from the past fall, which Zheng won on his way to a second-straight national title. Inchauspe and Zheng — who won a match at the Australian Open last month — went toe-to-toe for 2:10 themselves, ringing up one winner after another before Inchauspe won 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, breaking twice in the third set.

Way back when, Princeton won the doubles point, as Ardila and Inchausepe won at No. 1 and Sebastian Sec and Aleksandar Mitric won at No. 3. Mitric was the first to put a singles point on the board, as he won 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6 in 1:11. Only one other match would be finished in fewer than two hours.

Columbia put up wins at No. 4 and No. 2 before Inchauspe made it 3-2 Tigers. Columbia evened it with a win at No. 5, setting up the final drama for Ardila and Palta. When it ended, Ardila was mobbed by his teammates.

The rematch between these two will come April 12 in New York City in the regular season Ivy League match.

Princeton 4, No. 12 Columbia 3
Singles
No. 1 No. 7 Paul Inchauspe (P) def. No. 3 Michael Zheng (C) 6-3, 5-7, 6-3
No. 2 No. 25 Nicholas Kotzen (C) def. Top Nidunjianzan (P) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
No. 3 Landon Ardila (P) def. No. 37 Sachin Palta (C) 6-7 (6-8), 7-5, 6-1
No. 4 Thanaphat Boosarawongse (C) def. No. 96 Sebastian Sec (P) 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 Abhishek Thorat (C) def. Milan Markovits (P) 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
No. 6 Aleksandar Mitric (P) def. Aditya Govila (C) 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 4, 2, 1, 5, 3

Doubles
No. 1 No. 11 Landon Ardila/Paul Inchauspe (P) def. No. 54 Andrew Ena/Nicolas Kotzen (C) 6-4
No. 2 Sachin Palta/Michael Zheng (C) def. Top Nidunjianzan/Meecah Bigun (P) 6-4
No. 3 No. 75 Aleksandar Mitric/Sebastian Sec (P) def. No. 25 Thanaphat Boosarawongse/Aditya Govila (C) 6-1
Order of finish: 3,2,1