SAINT PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus men's tennis team opened the annual ITA Midwest Regional Championships and Midwest Open Friday morning, some of the top talent from 30 different schools in the region for a weekend full of tennis. The team played a combined 48 matches between the ITA tournament and Midwest Open "B" and "C" draws, emerging victorious in 41.

ITA Midwest Regional Championships

12 different Gusties competed in the ITA Midwest Regional singles bracket, eight of which received a bye through the first round. Every Gustie advanced to the round of 64, with 10 making it to Saturday's round of 32, as well. Yash Bahalkar (Fy., Solihull, United Kingdom) picked up the first Gustie win of the day, claiming a 6-2, 6-0 victory in round one. Takura Mhwandagara (Fy., Harare, Zimbabwe) added another win in the first round Friday morning, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8. Quinn Monson (Fy., Waukee, Iowa) and Noah Hakim (Fy., Allen, Texas) joined their fellow first-years with round one victories as well. 

In the round of 64, Marco Siviero (Sr., Sao Miguel de Oeste, Brazil) and Josh Christensen (Sr., Rochester) cruised to victories in their first matches of the day, as the pair is seeded No. 1 and No. 2 in the tournament. Gage Gohl (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) is seeded at No. 4, and proved his ranking, claiming his first singles match of the weekend by two 6-0 scores. 

Taona Mhwandagara (Sr., Harare, Zimbabwe) and Tyler Haddorff (Jr., Burnsville) each earned a bye and identical 6-3, 6-4 wins to advance, while Dominik Knutson (So., Dvur Kralove nad Labem, Czech Republic) added a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Central's Fletcher. Rafael de Camargo Costa (Sr., Sao Paulo, Brazil) claimed another win for the Gusties, 7-5, 6-4, over MSOE's Saaveda to join his teammates in the next round. Hakim and Bahalkar's ITA singles runs came to a close in the round of 64, as Hakim fell to No. 5-seeded Billson of UW-Whitewater, and Bahalkar dropped a 1-6, 3-6 decision to Carthage's Silveira. 

Monson continued to impress, collecting a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Carleton's Jing, 7-6, 6-3. Luke Fridinger (Jr., Woodbury) won 6-4, 6-3 over Benoy of Stevens Point, while Takura Mhwandagara claimed his second three-set victory in the round of 64, winning 7-5, 3-6, 10-6 over Luther's Westholder, seeded at No. 5 in the tournament.

In the doubles draw, six of seven teams advanced to the round of 32, to be played Saturday at 2 p.m. Reigning national champions Gohl and Haddorff claimed an 8-1 win as the No. 1 seed, while Christensen and Siviero added another 8-1 victory as the No. 2 seed. Taona Mhwandagara and Knutson won an 8-0 decision, while de Camargo Costa and Fridinger won 8-1. Hakim and Skanse advanced with an 8-3 victory as well, while Monson and Bahalkar won 8-5. Derbani and Takura Mhwandagara dropped their doubles match, 6-8 to UW-Whitewater. 

Midwest Open

Six Gusties went undefeated through three rounds of singles play at the Midwest Open with two different draws operating in Saint Peter and Mankato. Odin Fouchier (Sr., Nootdorp, Netherlands), Ali Derbani (Jr., Casablanca, Morocco), and Owen Skanse (Fy., Edina) all advanced to the "B" draw of 16, which will be played Saturday at 9 a.m., while Marty Anderson (So., Saint Peter), Aadityaa Juniwal (Kolkata, India), and Jacob Lucas (Jr., Lindsborg, Kansas) advanced to the "C" draw round of 16.

Joseph Li (Jr., Fort Dodge, Iowa) played a pair of marathon matches in his singles play after claiming his first round 6-3, 6-4. Li won his round two match 6-7, 7-6, 10-4, before dropping his round of 32 3-6, 6-4, 10-6. Gonzalo de Lorenzo Vicente (Fy., Madrid, Spain) won his first of the weekend, 6-2, 7-5, before falling 4-6, 2-6 to Dircks of St. Scholastica.

In the "C" draw, Juniwal played his second two matches to third-set breakers, coming back after dropping his first set 0-6 to win 6-3, 10-8 in the round of 64. In his final singles match of the day, he won 6-1, 5-7, 10-8. Elijah Olson (Fy., Rogers) won his first two matches, 6-0, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-4, but fell in a third-set breaker of his own in the round of 32. 

In doubles play, Fouchier and Li won 8-6 over a team from UW-La Crosse after receiving a first-round bye, while Olson and de Lorenzo Vicente fell to Concordia-Wisconsin in their only doubles match of the day, 3-8. 

Competition resumes for both tournaments tomorrow, starting at 9 a.m. at the earliest.