River Forest, Ill., September 10, 2021 – The Washington University in St. Louis men's tennis team opened its fall slate on Friday at the 11th annual River Forest Collegiate Invitational.
The rest of the field is made up of all Division I schools: Northern Illinois, St. Louis University, University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), Xavier, Youngstown State, Illinois State and Eastern Illinois. Matches were held at both the River Forest Tennis Center and the Oak Park Tennis Center.
The day started off with doubles which featured two flights.
In the #1 Doubles Flight, junior Abhi Ramireddy and sophomore Gaurav Singh faced off with Youngstown State's Laurentiu Mandocescu and Will Everett. The pair fell 6-5 (5) to move into the left side of the bracket.
In their next match, the duo battled Xavier's Brett Winters and Cambell Nakayama and came away with a 6-3 win to advance to the fifth place match.
Ramireddy and Singh faced Pelle Strandberg and Kevin Kruzel. With a 6-4 victory, the WashU duo finished in fifth place in the flight.
In the #2 Doubles Flight, senior Sam Komis and sophomore Jared Phillips squared off with Illinois State's Pol Botifoll Rius and Arvid Hjalte in the first match. The Bears fell, 6-2.
In their next match, Komis and Phillips faced Youngstown State's Nathan Favier and David Alvarez Moreno. The duo lost, 6-2, moving on to the seventh place match.
In that match, Komis and Phillips played the UIC's Francesco Tacconi and Ammar Wazier, this time coming away victorious, 6-5 (5).
Following the conclusion of the doubles matches, teams began singles matches.
Ramireddy competed in the #1 Singles Flight against Northern Illinois' Kris Ortega. Ramireddy claimed victory, 5-7, 6-4, (9) to advance in the winner's bracket. He will play Winters from Xavier tomorrow.
In the #2 Singles Flight, Singh faced off with Northern Illinois' Oliver Valentinsson. Valentinsson won the match 1-6, 6-1, (5). Singh will battle Eastern Illinois' Thomas Wallace tomorrow.
In the #3 Singles Flight, Phillips faced off with Northern Illinois' Mikko Malinen, winning 6-4, 6-2 to move into the winner's bracket. He will play UIC's Gustavo Schwebel tomorrow.
In the #4 Singles Flight, Komis opened up against UIC's Anthony Nguyen. Komis fell to Nguyen 6-0, 3-6, (7) and will face St. Louis University's Adam Behun tomorrow.
In the #5 Singles Flight, sophomore Henri Ohl defeated Eastern Illinois' Max Pilipovic, 6-4, 6-2, to advance in the winner's bracket. Tomorrow, he will face Kruzel of UIC.
In the #6 Singles Flight, first-year John Fakour defeated Youngstown's Asier Pena 6-7 (3), 6-3, (9). They will face each other again tomorrow in the next round.
Singles action will wrap up tomorrow.
