ALLENDALE, Mich. – McKendree Men's Tennis got off to a strong start here Friday on the first day of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships hosted by Grand Valley State University.
The Bearcats have eight players competing in the three-day event and on Friday's first day, the eight Bearcat players went a combined 11-4 in singles play and 4-1 combined in doubles action.
In the 'A' Singles Main Draw, junior
Leonardo Frederico (Tijucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil), who is seeded 14th in the draw, went 2-0 to advance to the Round of 16. He opened the day with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Grand Valley's Martin Matov and then picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Lake Superior State's Juho Kantola. Frederico will face No. 1 seeded Tom Zeuch of Indianapolis in a round of 16 match on Saturday morning.
The other two Bearcats playing in the 'A' Singles Main Draw, graduate student
Boriss Kamdem (Ghent, Beligium/University of Tulsa) and sophomore
Nanase Ebisu (Osaka, Japan/Hawai'i Pacific) each went 1-1 on the day.
Kamdem, who won the singles event at last weekend's ITA Fall Circuit at Dwight Davis in St. Louis, opened play on Friday with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Quincy's Brenden Everhart, before falling in a third set tiebreaker in the round of 32 to Wayne State's Dominic Spicer, 6-3, 1-6, 10-8, while Ebisu lost his opening round match to No. 3 seeded Nikolaj Talimaa of Indianapolis, 6-2, 6-1, but won his opening match in the 'A' Draw consolation draw over Walsh's Blas Ruiz, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 10-6 to advance to the round of 16.
In the 'A' Doubles Main Draw, both of the Bearcats' teams won their opening matches, including Frederico and Kamdem picking up an 8-2 upset win over Indianapolis' No. 2 seeded team of Yoann Viel and Dominik Anton Koenig, while Ebisu and
Lorenzo del Biondo (Pescora, Italy/Abraham Baldwin College) teamed up to post an 8-3 win over Purdue-Northwest's tandem of Leon Kah and Luca Kirchoff.
Meanwhile in the 'B' Singles Draw, McKendree had four players competing as they went 6-2 on the day with both del Biondo and freshman
David Leon Mantilla (Lima, Peru/Colegio Parroquial Santa Rosa de Lima) each won both of their singles matches to advance to Saturday's round of 16.
Del Biondo opened with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Walsh's Joao Campos and then picked up a 6-3, 6-4 win over Lake Superior State's Krishan Taneja, while del Biondo opened with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Ashland's Fabian Bussard and then picked up a 7-5, 6-3 win over Grand Valley's Nacho Morera Lucas.
McKendree's other two players in the 'B' Singles Draw, sophomore
Subash Paramasivan (Chennai, India/Sarawathi Kendra) and sophomore
Julappagari Anurag Reddy (Dubai, UAE/CBAE School Nationals) went 1-1 on the day as they both lost in the round of 32. Paramasivan opened with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Purdue-Northwest's Marcos Diaza and then fell to Wayne State's Cedric Drenth, 6-3, 6-2, while Reddy, who the No. 8 seeded player in the draw, opened with a 2-6, 6-4, 10-7 win over Southwest Baptist's Fabian Neff and then fell a hard-fought match to Grand Valley's Tomas Oliveira, 5-7, 6-3, 11-9.
In the 'B' Draw Doubles, Paramasivan teamed with junior
Ryan Fung (Miami, Fla./Palmetto Senior) to win their only match of the day as they defeated USI's duo of Egor Bogdanovich and Guy Finkelstein, 9-7, while the other doubles team of Reddy and Mantilla lost their opening match, 8-1 to Drury's No. 4 seeded duo of Jip De Buck and Lukas Stierling, before picking up a win by default in the first round of the consolation draw.
The final Bearcat singles player at the event is Fung and he is playing singles in the 'C' Draw and on Friday's first day, he won his only match to advance to the round of 16. Fung, who is seeded No. 5 in the draw, opened the day with a bye in the first round and then picked up a 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 32 over Wayne State's Joe Steele.
The ITA Midwest Regional Championships continues through Sunday, Sept. 26.
