Oct. 7, 2016
SAN DIEGO ââ'¬" The San Diego State men's tennis team made its home debut at the 2016 Aztec Fall Invitational Friday, posting three victories in singles competition to go along with a pair of wins in doubles play.
In the Flight 1 singles bracket, Joel Popov emerged triumphant over Marc Isaia of crosstown foe UC San Diego, 6-3, 6-4, in the round of 32. With his conquest, the Aztec freshman will square off against Grand Canyon's Mathieu Rajaonah in the round of 16 on Saturday. Rajaonah outlasted Vatsal Bajpal of UC Irvine in his opening match, 6-4, 0-6, 10-7, in a super tiebreaker. However, fellow classmate David Hough was not as fortunate in his encounter with Philip Kuehnen of Grand Canyon, dropping a tough 6-4, 7-6(2) decision.
In the Flight 2 singles draw, freshman Nicholas Mitchell came away with a victory in his first-ever match in a Scarlet and Black uniform with a straight-set triumph over another GCU adversary Mathieu Ounanian, 6-3, 6-3. The Ojai, Calif., native will battle UC Irvine's Mason Hanson in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Hanson was a winner in his opener over Garrett Kurtz of San Diego, 7-6, 6-3.
In addition, sophomore Raul de la Torre won a super tiebreaker in his opening-round clash with UCSD's Marius Ruh by a count of 6-3, 3-6, 10-6. The Torrey Pines High alumnus will next face Andrew Gong of UCI, who dispatched GCU's Rafael Lira on Friday, 6-2, 6-2.
In the Flight 1 doubles bracket, Popov teamed with Mitchell to dispose of the UCI pairing of Hanson and Bajpal and will lock horns with the USC tandem of Henry Ji and David Laser in the semifinals.
In Flight 2, meanwhile, the SDSU combo of Hough and de la Torre experienced an 8-4 setback to UCSD's Edvin Larsson and Richard Han, but rebounded in the consolation bracket with an 8-3 triumph over Andrew Gong and Anil Patel of UCI, 8-4. With the victory, the Scarlet and Black duo with face the mixed tandem of GCU's Ounanian and Moritz Geis of UCI in the consolation finals.
The Aztec Fall Invitational continues on Saturday with a round of doubles play at 9 a.m. PT, followed by two rounds of singles competition. Admission is free to the public.
Aztec Fall Invitational
Aztec Tennis Center
San Diego, Calif.
SDSU Day One Results Only
Doubles Flight 1
Quarterfinal Round
Joel Popov/Nicholas Mitchell (SDSU) def. Mason Hanson/Vatsal Bajpal (UCI), 8-5
Doubles Flight 2
Quarterfinal Round
Edvin Larsson/Richard Han (UCSD) def. Raul de la Torre/David Hough (SDSU), 8-4
Consolation Semifinals
Raul de la Torre/David Hough (SDSU) def. Andrew Gong/Anil Patel (UCI), 8-3
Singles Flight 1
Round of 32
Joel Popov (SDSU) def. Marc Isaia (UCSD), 6-3, 6-4
Philip Kuehnen (GCU) def. David Hough (SDSU), 6-4, 7-6 (2)
Singles Flight 2
Round of 16
Nicholas Mitchell (SDSU) def. Mathieu Ounanian (GCU), 6-3, 6-3
Raul de la Torre (SDSU) def. Marius Ruh (UCSD), 6-3, 3-6, 10-6