SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's tennis team opened its 2022-23 season with a split squad competing in two tournaments on Friday with Chikaya Sato, Bora Sengul, Johannes Seeman and Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice playing in the Battle in the Bay Qualifier on the campus of the University of California in Berkeley, Calif., while Andre Saleh, Lenny Melzer, Liam Spiers and Mathieu Josserand got their first taste of action as Aztecs at the Wildcat Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.
Battle in the Bay – Berkeley, Calif.
Sato, a senior, and junior Sengul combined to win their first doubles match in the Scarlet and Black. The pair, who transferred together from Penn State, competed as the third seed and proved to be too much for UNLV's duo of Jackson Atherton and Anton Ornberg. They defeated the Rebels' twosome 8-4 to set up a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday against Mikey Wright, of host California, and UC Davis' Andrei Volgin.
Seeman teamed up with Gonzalez Fitzmaurice as the top doubles seed, earned a first-round bye, and will face California's Lucas Magnaudet and Alex Chang in the quarterfinals.
Seeman, the only Aztec from last year's roster to compete on Friday, won two singles matches to advance to the quarterfinals. The fifth seed gave UNLV's Atherton his second Friday loss to the Aztecs after a doubles defeat, 6-1, 6-0, in the first round. The Parnu, Estonia native, drew Saint Mary's Thibaud Maxant in the Round of 16 and took care of business, winning 6-2, 6-4, to earn a matchup with Volgin of UC Davis in the quarterfinals.
Sato, a senior, cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 first round win over San Francisco's Moritz Hoffmann. In the second round, he battled California's Magnaudet, who was well rested after a first-round bye and possessed a home court advantage. Sato was bested 6-1, 6-3.
Gonzalez Fitzmaurice fell to Issac Gorelik, of Stanford, 6-0, 6-4 in first round singles. Moving into the consolation bracket, he earned byes in the first two rounds, which set up an extra consolation match against San Francisco's Hoffmann. Gonzalez Fitzmaurice, a freshman from San Diego, dominated the first set 6-1 and took a 1-0 lead in the second before Hoffman retired. Gonzalez Fitzmaurice will next face another USF Don, this time Johan Garpered, in the consolation quarterfinals.
Sengul battled but could not come up with the win against UNLV's Ornberg, falling 7-6 (4), 6-3 in the first round. He faced off against San Francisco's Luka Kalenic in the consolation Round of 16 and earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory to advance to the consolation quarterfinals against Aaron Bailey of UNLV.
Wildcat Invitational, Tucson, Ariz.
Andre Saleh, Liam Spiers and Mathieu Josserand competed in qualifying singles matches, and freshman Lenny Melzer played in a Round of 16 singles match. Spiers and Metzler teamed up and Josserand and Saleh did the same to compete in doubles play.
In singles action, Melzer fought hard but ran out of steam against Grand Canyon's Ntal Richards 7-5, 6-3. Spires, a sophomore, fell to Northern Arizona's Alex Groves 6-3, 6-2.
Josserand, also a sophomore, suffered a 6-3, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Aram Noroozian of New Mexico and junior Andre Saleh was bested by Matthew Hollingworth of Gonzaga, 6-4, 6-2.
The pair of Spiers and Melzer teamed up against Daniil Kakhnuik and Georgio Samaha of New Mexico and lost a hard-fought set by the score of 6-4.
Josserand and Saleh also faced off against a pair of New Mexico Lobos, but could not get revenge for their teammates, falling to Arda Azkara and Aram Noroozian, 6-1.
San Diego State continues play in the Battle in the Bay Qualifier and Wildcat Invitational on Saturday.
-SDSU-