Oct. 20, 2016
MALIBU, Calif. -- San Diego State's Sander Gjoels-Andersen (Klampenborg, Denmark) won both of his singles matches on Thursday to lead the Aztec men's tennis team during the opening day of the 2016 ITA Southwest Regional Championships presented by Oracle on the campus of Pepperdine University.
Gjoels-Andersen opened with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over UC Irvine's Moritz Geis in the round of 128, before outlasting Ben Donovan of Cal Poly in three sets, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. With his victories, the Aztec sophomore will square off against UCLA's Max Cressy in the round of 32 on Friday, beginning at 11:45 a.m. PT.
In addition, senior Marko Goles-Babic, who received a first-round bye, dispatched Max Kaiser of Loyola Marymount, 6-1, 6-1, in his round two encounter. The Zagreb, Croatia, native will now battle USC's Thibault Forget in the round of the 32 at the aforementioned starting time.
The rest of the SDSU delegation was unable to advance in the main draw bracket. Sophomore Raul de la Torre (Calexico, Calif.) and freshman Nicholas Mitchell (Ojai, Calif.) both knocked off their first-round opponents before experiencing a reversal of fortune in the round of 64.
Mitchell came through with a 6-1, 6-4 conquest of Nishanth Yamani of UCLA, but could not duplicate the feat against LMU's Nicholas Borchenko in the afternoon, dropping a 6-2, 6-2 decision.
Meanwhile, de la Torre prevailed over Nicholas Baez of Pepperdine, 6-2, 6-3, but had his momentum derailed by Grand Canyon's Mathieu Rajaonah in a 6-0, 6-2 defeat in the round of 64.
Elsewhere, senior Milen Ianakiev locked horns with Cal Poly's Axel Damiens, but ultimately fell to his Mustang adversary, 6-4, 6-4. Junior Santiago Cevallos (Queretaro, Mexico) suffered a similar fate against Igor Kolaric of Hawai'i, but came up short as well, 7-6(5), 6-2. Likewise, freshman Joel Popov (Tampere, Finland) gave LMU's Charles Boyce all he could handle before running out of steam in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 setback. Fellow classmate David Hough (Traralgorn, Victoria, Australia) also had no answers for Lorenzo Fucile of Grand Canyon, who emerged with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph.
Doubles competition was also unkind to the Scarlet and Black, as two SDSU tandems experienced early exits. The Aztec pairing of Mitchell and Popov suffered a near-miss against the Hawai'i duo of Felix Albert and Ruben Blattner, 8-6, while the team of Mitchell and de la Torre fell victim to Arizona's Shoki Kasahara and Shoti Meparidze, 8-3.
The ITA Southwest Regional Championships resume on Friday with one round of main draw singles and doubles, along with two rounds of singles consolation.
ITA Southwest Regional Championships
Malibu, Calif.
Day One SDSU Results
Singles -- Round of 128
Sander Gjoels-Andersen (SDSU) def. Moritz Geis (UCI), 6-2, 6-2
Raul de la Torre (SDSU) def. Nicholas Baez (Pepperdine), 6-2, 6-3
Nicholas Mitchell (SDSU) def. Nishanth Yamani (UCLA), 6-1, 6-4
Axel Damiens (Cal Poly) def. Milen Ianakiev (SDSU), 6-4, 6-4
Igor Kolaric (Hawai'i) def. Santiago Cevallos (SDSU), 7-6(5), 6-2
Charles Boyce (LMU) def. Joel Popov (SDSU), 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
Lorenzo Fucile (GCU) def. David Hough (SDSU), 6-2, 6-4
Singles -- Round of 64
Marko Goles-Babic (SDSU) def. Max Kaiser (LMU), 6-1, 6-1
Sander Gjoels-Andersen (SDSU) def. Ben Donovan (Cal Poly), 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
Mathieu Rajaonah (GCU) def. Raul de la Torre (SDSU), 6-0, 6-2
Nicholas Borchenko (LMU) def. Nicholas Mitchell (SDSU), 6-2, 6-2
Doubles -- Round of 64
Felix Albert/Ruben Blattner (Hawai'i) def. Nicholas Mitchell/Joel Popov (SDSU), 8-6
Shoki Kasahara/Shoti Meparidze (Arizona) def. Raul de la Torre/David Hough (SDSU), 8-3