ATLANTA, GA. ?? Saketh Myneni went 2-0 in singles and 1-0 in doubles in the first day of competition at the Georgia Tech Fall Invitational on Friday in Atlanta, Ga.
Myneni won in straight sets in the opening round against Nebraska's Mark Tate 6-4, 6-2. He advanced to the second round where he faced second-seeded Milan Krenjetin of Auburn. Mynemi lost the first set 4-6, but rallied back to win the final two sets by identical scores of 6-4, 6-4 to take the match. He will move on to the quarterfinal round of the Flight A bracket.
"I played very well today," said Myneni. "I started off slow but was able to come back and defeat an Auburn player, which is always a good thing since they are a rival. I will try to take the good things from today into tomorrow and hopefully I will continue to play well."
In doubles, Myneni teamed up with Jordie Kindervater to defeat Clemson's Ike Belk and Kevin Fleck in a close match, 8-6. The Crimson Tide duo moves on to the second round where they will face the fourth-seeded Central Florida combination of Sinan Sudas and Norman Alcantara on Saturday.
The Crimson Tide's Taylor Striplin teamed up with Clemson's Gera Boryachinskiy in the Flight B doubles bracket. They defeated North Florida's team of Glenn Marshall Yuiti Lopes, 8-4, and will move on to face Central Florida's Jimmy Roesch and Brock Sakey in the next round.
In the other singles matches, Striplin won his first match of the Flight B bracket. He took down Georgia Southern's Daniel Harden in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. He advanced to face Eric Lim of Mississippi State in the second round where he lost 6-4, 7-5.
Kindervater also competed in the Flight B bracket. He faced Callen Frayincheaud of Southern Miss and rallied back from a 4-6 loss in the first set to force a third set with a 6-1 victory. However, Frayincheaud answered with another 6-4 win to take the match. In the backdraw, Kindervater lost another close match in three sets. Nebraska's Karl Jones lost a tiebreaker in the first set 6-7, but took the final two sets 6-3, 6-2 to move past Kindervater.
Play will continue on Saturday at the Bill Moore Tennis Center on Georgia Tech's campus with the second round of doubles beginning at 8 a.m. and the singles matches to follow. The championship matches will be played on Sunday.
