The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team had two singles and a pair of doubles tandems advance in the main draws at the Tennessee Fall Invitational in Knoxville on Friday. Sophomore Pavels Grigorjevs won both of his singles and one doubles contest to lead the Mocs.
Grigorjevs, a native of Riga, Latvia, competed in the White Singles Draw, along with senior teammatesJackson Tresnan (Apopka, Fla.) and Ankit Chopra (Chandigrah, India). Grigorjevs opened with a (6-2, 6-3) win over USC Upstate's Jacob Darling, followed by a second round win over Wright State's Marc Sodini (6-4, 6-2). He will face Tennessee's Edward Jones in the quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m. (E.D.T.) on Saturday.
Tresnan and Chopra both split their main draw matches, advancing to the second round. They are both set to compete in tomorrow's consolation.
SeniorStephen Crofford (Franklin, Tenn.) is the other Moc who went undefeated in singles today. He is in the Volunteer Draw with fellow seniorWilliam Disterdick (Hixson, Tenn.). After an opening round bye, Crofford defeated Xavier's Robert Torsch (6-1, 6-0). He faces Western Michigan's Michael Treis at 9:30 a.m. in tomorrow's quarterfinals. Disterdick also had a first-round bye, but fell to the back draws after a loss in the second round.
SeniorsManuel Barroetavena (Buenos Aires, Argentina), Chris Smith (Johnson City, Tenn.) and Roberto Vieira (Bedfordview, South Africa) were all in the Orange Draw, competing against the top players in the tournament. Smith and Vieira both had first round wins, but lost in the second. Barroetavena dropped his opening round match, but won in the backdraw to stay alive.
Girgorjevs and Disterdick posted a doubles win in the Volunteer main draw. Tresnan and Barroetavena also had a main draw win in the Orange bracket. Vieira-Smith and Chopra-Crofford both lost their first round matches.
There will be live video and a live blog for Saturday's action. Links for both are available on the men's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com.