MALIBU, CALIF. – The San Diego State men's tennis team continued competition in the ITA Southwest Regional Championships on Friday in Malibu, California. SDSU's eight players competed in doubles while four played singles as well on Friday. The Aztecs won four of seven doubles matches as two pairs advanced to the Round of 16 and Robin Parts and Alexander Mandma moved on to the Quarterfinals.
The fourth seeded doubles team, Parts and Mandma earned a first-round bye before facing UC Santa Barbara's Luka Mrsic and Conrad Brown. The match went to a tiebreaker, but the Aztecs came out on top 8-7 (7-4). In the Round of 16, they went up against Loyola Marymount's Yassine Smiej and Alejandro Padro. Parts and Mandma were able to earn another win, 8-5, to advance to the Quarterfinals. In Saturday's Quarterfinals, the duo will draw seventh seeded Colton Smith and Jay Friend, of Arizona.
Chikaya Sato and Eugenio Gonzalez Fitzmaurice opened doubles competition against Cal Poly's Sean Ferguson and Raz Haviv. They picked up an 8-4 victory. In the next round, they battled USC's eighth seeded team of Karl Kazuma Lee and Peter Makk. Sato and Gonzalez Fitzmaurice upset the Trojans 8-5 to fight on to the Round of 16, where they came up short against George Davis and Linus Carlsson Halldin, of Pepperdine, in an 8-4 defeat.
In his singles match, Sato opposed UC San Diego's Joseph Teh. Sato was nearly perfect in a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
Liam Spiers and Lenny Melzer reunited after playing in a couple of tournaments together a season ago. Their chemistry was not enough to overcome Arizona State's Constantinos Koshis and Daniel Phillips in an 8-4 defeat.
Mathieu Josserand and Andre Saleh dueled Cal Poly's Bastiaan Weststrate and Colter Smith but were bested 8-1.
In his consolation match, Josserand went up against Grand Canyon's Alfred Almasi. Josserand claimed an early lead after winning the first set 6-2 but struggled to close out Almasi, dropping the second set 7-5 and the tiebreaker 10-2.
Like Sato, Melzer faced a UCSD Triton, going up against Charles Qian. He was defeated 6-2, 6-3.
Saleh was scheduled to play singles against Grand Canyon's David Wekesa but was unable to play due to an injury.
The ITA Southwest Regional Championships continue tomorrow. You can follow all the action on the ITA website: https://colleges.wearecollegetennis.com/competitions/PepperdineUniversityM/Tournaments/overview/C34CAB87-8EF1-4C91-950D-1721A90567DC
ITA Southwest Regional Championships
Malibu, Calif.
San Diego State's Day Two Results
Alfred Almasi (GCU) def. Mathieu Josserand (SDSU) 2-6, 7-5, 10-2
Chikaya Sato (SDSU) def. Joseph Teh (UCSD) 6-1, 6-0
Charles Qian (UCSD) def. Lenny Melzer (SDSU) 6-2, 6-3
David Wekesa (GCU) def. Andre Saleh (SDSU) Wo (Inj.)
[4] Parts/Mandma (SDSU) def. Mrsic/Brown (UCSB) 8-7 (7-4)
[4] Parts/Mandma (SDSU) def. Smiej/Padro (LMU) 8-5
Phillips/Koshis (ASU) def. Spiers/Melzer (SDSU) 8-4
Sato/Gonzalez Fitzmaurice (SDSU) def. Ferguson/Haviv (CP) 8-4
Sato/Gonzalez Fitzmaurice (SDSU) def. Kazuma Lee/Makk (USC) 8-5
Davis/Carlsson Halldin (PEP) def. Sato/Gonzalez Fitzmaurice (SDSU) 8-4
Smith/Weststrate (CP) def. Josserand/Saleh (SDSU) 8-1