ALLENDALE, Mich. – McKendree Men's Tennis continued play here Saturday on the second day of the ITA Midwest Regional Championships hosted by Grand Valley State University.
On the second day of the event, the Bearcats eight players that are competing in the event posted a combined record of 6-7 in both singles and doubles, including two one doubles team and one singles player advancing to play on Sunday's final day of the championships.
In the 'A' Singles Main Draw, junior Leonardo Frederico (Tijucas-Santa Cantrina, Brazil), who is seeded 14th in the draw, opened the day with an upset over No. 1 seeded Tom Zeuch of Indianapolis in the round of 16. Frederico defeated Zeuch, 7-5, 3-6, 10-5. The win over Zeuch advanced Frederico to the quarterfinal round where he fell in a third-set tiebreaker to Illinois-Springfield's Tommy Martinez, 6-4, 2-6, 10-4. Frederico finished the event with a 3-1 record after advancing to the quarterfinal round.
The only other player that competed in the 'A' Singles Draw on Saturday was sophomore Nanase Ebisu (Osaka, Japan/Hawai'i Pacific) as he went 1-1 in the 'A' Single consolation draw. Ebisu opened his day on Saturday with a 4-6, 6-2, 10-5 win in the round of 16 over Lewis' Juan Ramirez, before suffering a hard-fought 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-8 loss in the quarterfinal round to Drury's Andrin Sander. For the event, Ebisu went 2-2 overall.
In the 'A' Doubles Main Draw, the Bearcats two teams that played both lost their round of 16 matches on Saturday as the duo of Ebisu and sophomore Lorenzo del Biondo (Pescora, Italy/Abraham Baldwin College) fell to Indianapolis' No. 1 seeded team of Zeuch and Zac Favery, 9-7 and the tandem of Frederico and graduate student Boriss Kamdem (Ghent, Belgium/University of Tulsa) fell to Drury's team of Jonathan Bulmer and Juan-Louis Van Antwerpen, 8-5. Both of McKendree's doubles team posted 1-1 records in doubles.
Meanwhile, in the 'B' Singles Draw, two Bearcats competed in the Round of 16 on Saturday del Biondo fell 7-5, 6-3 to Ferris State's Alessandro Sant'Angelo, who was the draw's No. 2 seeded player and freshman David Leon Mantilla (Lima, Peru/Colegio Parroquial Santa Rosa de Lima) suffered a 7-5, 6-2 loss to Indianapolis' Jason Gerweck, who was the No. 4 seeded player in the draw. Del Biondo and Mantilla each went 2-1 for the event.
In the 'B' Draw Doubles Main Draw, junior Ryan Fung (Miami, Fla./Palmetto Senior) and sophomore Subash Paramasivan (Chennai, India/Saraswathi Kendra) picked up a win in the Round of 16 over Grand Valley State's Andrew Freel and Ambarish Rao, 8-2, before falling in the quarterfinals to Maryville's duo of Jack Triggs and Sebastian Trigosso, 8-5. Fung and Paramasivan went 2-1 in doubles play for the event.
Mantilla and sophomore Julappagari Anurag Reddy (Dubai, UAE/CBSE School Nationals) picked up a win in the quarterfinals of the Men's 'B' Doubles Consolation Draw as they defeated Findlay's Andrew Codita and Ethan Shoesmith, 9-8 (2) to advance to Sunday's semifinal round where they were scheduled to face Hillsdale's Tyler Conrad and Daniel Gilbert.
The final Bearcat singles player at the event is Fung and he is playing singles in the 'C' Draw and on Saturday's second day, he won two matches to advance to Sunday's semifinal round. Fung, who is seeded No. 5 in the draw, opened the day with a default win after USI's Guy Finkelstein withdrew and then earned his spot in the semifinals with a quarterfinal round win over Quincy's Ivan Mimica, 6-2, 7-6 (3). Fung will meet Grand Valley State's Borja De La Fuente in the semifinal round.
The ITA Midwest Regional Championships will wrap up on Sunday, Sept. 26.
