HOUSTON — Highlighted by a run to the Doubles C Draw final by Axel Cronje and Luis Tirado, the UTSA men's tennis team recorded 14 victories at this weekend's Rice Invitational, which was played at the George R. Brown Tennis Center.
Cronje and Tirado teamed up for a run to the last match in their doubles bracket. The freshman duo edged Chase Schupp and Eric Wagner of Tulane by a slim 8-7 (8) margin in the opening round and then downed Sergio Avella and Freddy Quintero of Prairie View A&M with an 8-1 decision in the semifinals. The Roadrunners came up short in the final in an 8-6 defeat at the hands of UT Arlington's Sansidh Kommaruju and an unattached player.
Tirado, a native of La Paz, Bolivia, also made a run to the consolation final in the Singles C Draw. After falling to Nikita Pereverzin of Army by a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 count in the opening round, Tirado outlasted Kommaruju, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, in the quarterfinals. He then posted a 6-1, 6-1 sweep of an unattached player in the semis before dropping a 6-4, 6-2 decision to Wagner in the final.
Cronje put together three triumphs in the winner's bracket of the C Draw. The Hoersholm, Denmark, product opened with a 6-3, 6-0 sweep of Ulrick Boyogueno of Prairie View A&M but was handed a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 setback by Andre Baldo of Troy in the semis. He then moved on to top Michael Sienko of Army and Zachary Vander Heiden of Incarnate Word, 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Takeru Watanabe rallied from a loss in the opening round for a run to the A Draw consolation final. The sophomore from Fujisawa, Japan, downed Avella, 6-3, 6-1, and Sam Lampman of Army, 7-5, 6-3, before falling to Francisco Bendana of UIW, 6-1, 4-6, 1-0.
UTSA also saw a pair of doubles tandems advance to third-place matches.
In the A Draw, Christian Carrillo and Watanabe dispatched Oscar Janglin and Jamie Malik of Rice by an 8-6 score before dropping a slim 8-7 (1) decision to Bendana and Sebastian Mortier of UIW in the semis. In the third-place contest, Andy Lau and Pablo Moreno of Troy held off the Roadrunners, 8-4.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Borunda and Igor Cantanhede turned in an 8-3 victory against Tim Quetzal and Jonathan Star of Tulane in the opening round of the B Draw. The duo fell to Army's Pereverzin and Grant Riechmann, 8-6, and then dropped the battle for third place, 8-5, to Troy's Baldo and Gabriel Niculescu.
The Roadrunners will return to action when they host the inaugural UTSA Cup on Oct. 14-16 at the UTSA Tennis Center.
Rice Invitational (UTSA results)
Singles — Draw A First Round
Hassan Ndayishimiye (Troy) def. Takeru Watanabe (UTSA) 6-2, 6-2
Constantin Schick (Tulane) def. Christian Carrillo (UTSA) 6-3, 6-1
Singles — Draw A Consolation Quarterfinal
Watanabe (UTSA) def. Sergio Avella (Prairie View A&M) 6-3, 6-1
Bendana (Incarnate Word) def. Carrillo (UTSA) 7-5, 7-6 (4)
Singles — Draw A Consolation Semifinal
Watanabe (UTSA) def. Sam Lampman (Army) 7-5, 6-3
Singles — Draw A Consolation Final
Francisco Bendana (Incarnate Word) def. Watanabe (UTSA) 6-1, 4-6, 1-0
Singles — Draw A Consolation
Sebastian Fortier (Incarnate Word) def. Carrillo (UTSA) 6-4, 7-5
Carrillo (UTSA) def. Jaiqi Duan (Troy) 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (5)
Singles — Draw B First Round
Andy Lau (Troy) def. Igor Cantanhede (UTSA) 6-1, 6-3
Jonathan Star (Tulane) def. Gabriel Borunda (UTSA) 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-2
Singles — Draw B Consolation Quarterfinal
Cantanhede (UTSA) def. Anirudh Yadav (Prairie View A&M) 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4
David Mitchell (Army) def. Borunda (UTSA) 7-5, 6-1
Singles — Draw B Consolation Semifinal
Henrick Munch (Rice) def. Cantanhede (UTSA) 7-6 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
Singles — Draw B Consolation
Mitchell (Army) def. Cantanhede (UTSA) 7-6 (5)
Caleb Dyer (Incarnate Word) def. Borunda (UTSA) 6-3, 6-4
Borunda (UTSA) def. Nedim Ahmic (Incarnate Word) 6-1, 2-6, 1-0 (5)
Singles — Draw C First Round
Axel Cronje (UTSA) def. Ulrick Boyogueno (Prairie View A&M) 6-3, 6-0
Nikita Pereverzin (Army) def. Luis Tirado (UTSA) 2-6, 6-4, 6-1
Singles — Draw C Quarterfinal
Andre Baldo (Troy) def. Cronje (UTSA) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
Cronje (UTSA) def. Michael Sienko (Army) NR
Cronje (UTSA) def. Zachary Vander Heiden (Incarnate Word) 7-6 (5), 6-4
Singles — Draw C Consolation Quarterfinal
Tirado (UTSA) def. Sansidh Kommaruju (UT Arlington) 6-1, 3-6, 6-4
Singles — Draw C Consolation Semifinal
Tirado (UTSA) def. Reyna (unattached) 6-1, 6-1
Singles — Draw C Consolation Final
Wagner (Tulane) def. Tirado (UTSA) 6-4, 6-2
Doubles — Draw A First Round
Carrillo/Watanabe (UTSA) def. Janglin/Malik (Rice) 8-6
Doubles — Draw A Semifinals
Bendana/Mortier (Incarnate Word) def. Carrillo/Watanabe (UTSA) 8-7 (1)
Doubles — Draw A Third Place
Lau/Moreno (Troy) def. Carrillo/Watanabe (UTSA) 8-4
Doubles — Draw B First Round
Borunda/Cantanhede (UTSA) def. Ruetzel/Star (Tulane) 8-3
Doubles — Draw B Semifinal
Pereverzin/Riechmann (Army) def. Borunda/Cantanhede (UTSA) 8-6
Doubles — Draw B Third Place
Baldo/Niculescu (Troy) def. Borunda/Cantanhede (UTSA) 8-5
Doubles — Draw C First Round
Cronje/Tirado (UTSA) def. Schupp/Wagner (Tulane) 8-7 (8)
Doubles — Draw C Semifinal
Cronje/Tirado (UTSA) def. Avella/Quintero (Prairie View A&M) 8-1
Doubles — Draw C Final
Kommaruju/Llamas (unattached) def. Cronje/Tirado (UTSA) 8-6