Oct. 19, 2017
MALIBU, Calif. ââ'¬" San Diego State's Sander Gjoels-Andersen (Klampenborg, Denmark) remains alive in the main draw singles bracket at the 2017 ITA Southwest Regional Championships after emerging victorious in the round of 64 on Thursday at Pepperdine University.
Gjoels-Andersen received a first-round bye before posting a come-from-behind win over Loyola Marymount's Alexander Bourgeois in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. With his result, the Aztec junior will square off against UCLA's Logan Staggs in the round of 32 on Friday.
However, the rest of the SDSU contingency was unable to advance past the round of 64 on the first day of competition. Santiago Cevallos (Queretaro, Mexico), Jan Kirchhoff (Germany), Ignacio Martinez (Weston, Fla.) and Arnaud Restifo (Nice, France) each recorded a first-round conquest before experiencing a reversal of fortune in their ensuing matches.
Cevallos came through with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over LMU's Ethan Prost, while Kirchhoff dispatched Daly Menert of Cal Poly by a 6-4, 6-3 count. In addition, Martinez was extended to three sets before outlasting UC Santa Barbara's Henrik Atlevi, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-1, while Restifo was triumphant in similar fashion over another LMU adversary in Nicholas Borchenko, 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4.
However, Cevallos had his momentum derailed by UCLA's Max Cressy in the round of 64, suffering a 6-2, 6-4 defeat, while Kirchhoff was upended by Michael Geerts of Arizona State by a 6-3, 6-1 tally. On the other hand, Martinez captured the opening set in his duel with USC's Tanner Smith before running out of steam in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 loss, while Restifo came up short in another three-set affair against Anders Holm of UC Santa Barbara, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Elsewhere in the opening round, David Hough (Traralgon, Australia) locked horns with UCLA's Ben Goldberg, but dropped a 6-1, 6-3 decision to his Bruin adversary, while Nicholas Mitchell (Ojai, Calif.) was toppled by Antoine Barthe of UC Irvine, 6-3, 6-4. Likewise, Rafael Gonzalez Almazan (Madrid, Spain) had few answers for LMU's Lukas Moenter in a 6-2, 6-2 setback, while fellow Lion teammate Lucas Moreno escaped with a 6-1, 7-6(2) victory over the Aztecs' Raul de la Torre (Calexico, Calif.).
The Aztec singles delegation also included Daniel de la Torre (Calexico, Calif.), who fell victim to USC's Jack DeVine by a 6-3, 6-2 count, while Joel Popov (Tampere, Finland) retired in his match against Eric Kenneth of Hawai'i after trailing, 6-4, 3-2.
The Scarlet and Black witnessed mixed results in main draw doubles competition, with three tandems posting victories in the round of 64 before their progress was stymied. Cevallos and Restifo combined for an 8-4 triumph over Cal Poly's Antoine Noel and Joshua Ortlip in their opening battle, but could not get past the UCLA team of Goldberg and Staggs in the round of 32, falling by a score of 8-5.
In addition, the SDSU duo of Gonzalez Almazan and Raul de la Torre got off on the right foot with an 8-5 victory over UC Irvine's pairing of Barthe and Mason Hansen, but were handed an 8-2 setback by the USC tandem of Smith and Jack Jaede in the next round.
Similarly, the Aztec team of Mitchell and Gjoels-Andersen dispatched another UCI duo in Luca Marquard and Bruce Man-Son-Hing, 8-4, but suffered the identical fate against Bryce Pereira and Austin Rapp of UCLA in the round of 32.
SDSU's two remaining teams were given early exits as the duo of Hough and Kirchhoff dropped an 8-2 decision to UCI's Vatsal Bajpai and Oleksandr Krasnov, while Martinez and Daniel de la Torre were edged by the Hawai'i pairing of Felix Albert and Favian Woehrl, 8-6.
The ITA Southwest Regional Championships resume on Friday with one round of main draw singles and doubles, along with two rounds of singles consolation.
2017 ITA Southwest Regional Championships
Malibu, Calif.
Day One ââ'¬" SDSU Results Only
Main Draw Singles - Round of 64
Max Cressy (UCLA) def. Santiago Cevallos (SDSU), 6-2, 6-4
Michael Geerts (ASU) def. Jan Kirchhoff (SDSU), 6-3, 6-1
Tanner Smith (USC) def. Ignacio Martinez (SDSU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Sander Gjoels-Andersen (SDSU) def. Alexander Bourgeois (LMU), 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
Main Draw Singles - Round of 128
Eric Kenneth (Hawai'i) def. Joel Popov (SDSU), 6-4, 3-2, ret.
Ignacio Martinez (SDSU) def. Henrik Atlevi (UCSB), 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-1
Santiago Cevallos (SDSU) def. Ethan Prost (LMU), 6-4, 6-1
Lukas Moenter (LMU) def. Rafael Gonzalez Almazan (SDSU), 6-2, 6-2
Jack DeVine (USC) def. Daniel de la Torre (SDSU), 6-3, 6-2
Ben Goldberg (UCLA) def. David Hough (SDSU), 6-1, 6-3
Jan Kirchhoff (SDSU) def. Daly Meinert (Cal Poly), 6-4, 6-3
Arnaud Restifo (SDSU) def. Nicholas Borchenko (LMU), 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4
Antoine Barthe (UCI) def. Nicholas Mitchell (SDSU), 6-3, 6-4
Lucas Moreno (LMU) def. Raul de la Torre (SDSU), 6-1, 7-6(2)
Main Draw Doubles - Round of 32
Jack Jaede/Tanner Smith (USC) def. Raul de la Torre/Rafael Gonzalez Almazan (SDSU), 8-2
Ben Goldberg/Logan Staggs (UCLA) def. Santiago Cevallos/Arnaud Restifo (SDSU), 8-5
Bryce Pereira/Austin Rapp (UCLA) def. Sander Gjoels-Andersen/Nicholas Mitchell (SDSU), 8-4
Main Draw Doubles - Round of 64
Santiago Cevallos/Arnaud Restifo (SDSU) def. Antoine Noel/Joshua Ortlip (Cal Poly), 8-4
Raul de la Torre/Rafael Gonzalez Almazan (SDSU) def. Antoine Barthe/Mason Hansen (UCI), 8-5
Sander Gjoels-Andersen/Nicholas Mitchell (SDSU) def. Bruce Man-Son-Hing/Luca Marquard (UCI), 8-4
Vatsal Bajpai/Oleksandr Krasnov (UCI) def. David Hough/Jan Kirchhoff (SDSU), 8-2
Felix Albert/Favian Woehrl (Hawai'i) def. Daniel de la Torre/Ignacio Martinez (SDSU), 8-6