The Emory men's tennis team had a stellar first day at the ITA South Regional, going undefeated in singles and doubles to begin play in Memphis.
In doubles, the junior duo of
Ajay Kartik and
Sammy Nieder paired up to defeat MUW and Centre, beating them 6-2 and 6-0 respectively while
Daniel Kim and
Joshua Lai beat Rhodes 7-5 and NC Wesleyan 6-0 to move onto tomorrow's quarterfinal. Up next was the duo of
Juno Pethe and
Mitchell Deames who took down MUW in round one 6-4 and Berry 6-0 to advance. The underclassmen duo of
Matthew Johnstone and
Aadit Rishi wrapped up doubles for the Eagles as they took down Covenant College 6-1 before beating Asbury by the same margin to move onto the round of 16.
In singles, Kim got it started with a 6-3, 6-0 decision over MUW's David Gimenez Salas before defeating Sewanee's Charles Pizzuti to advance to the round of 16. Nieder also defeated both of his opponents in straight sets, defeating University of the Ozarks' Archibald Martyn-Smith 6-2, 6-0 and beating Asbury's Tim Henning 6-0, 6-1. Johnstone's wins came against Centre College's Emilio Ventura Ramirez in a 6-0, 6-2 decision and against Oglethorpe's Figge Pernfors as he won 6-2, 6-3. Kartik defeated NC Wesleyan's Julian Valverde 7-5, 6-2 in the round of 64 before beating Asbury's Andres Caceres in straight sets to advance. Pethe saw a pair of straight set victories as he faced Rhodes' Sathvik Nath and Centre's Jack Gessner before Lai defeated MUW's Manan Kumar and Sewanee's Drew Rukavina in straight sets. Senior
Ryan Nash saw his set of straight set victories against NC Wesleyan's Joey Govenlock and Sewanee's Silas Montana, beating both in a set of 6-2, 6-0 decisions. Rishi saw a 6-3, 6-3 victory against NC Wesleyan's Largo Koch before defeating University of the Ozarks' Harry Crokam 6-0, 6-3. Junior
Alec Anghel defeated Berry's Xavier Deckard 6-2, 6-3 and Sewanee's William Lewis 6-2, 6-4 to advance while Deames wrapped things up for the Eagles with a pair of straight set victories over Rhodes' Ezra Crum and Asbury's Ben Moore.
Flight B saw freshman
Andy Zhang on the court in singles, taking down Rhodes' Oliver Craddock and Methodist's Lincoln Pratt in a pair of 4-1, 4-1 decisions to advance to Saturday's quarterfinal. Zhang then paired up with Anghel in doubles, defeating University of the Ozarks 6-2 and Maryville 6-3 to move onto the round of 16.
The Eagles will begin play with doubles tomorrow morning at 7:45 a.m.
