Alabama Men’s Tennis Starts Strong at the Bulldog Challenge with Seven Day-One Wins

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Alabama men's tennis team earned five singles and two doubles wins Friday on day one of the Bulldog Challenge in Starkville, Miss., this weekend. In addition to the Crimson Tide, the tournament features players from host school Mississippi State as well as LSU, Ole Miss and Tennessee in both singles and doubles competition.

Patrick Kaukovalta, Zhe Zhou, Riccardo Roberto, Jeremy Gshwendtner and Vincent Retke all took home first-day wins in singles, while the duos of Kaukovalta and Roberto and Alexey Nesterov and Zhou added a pair of doubles victories for the Tide.

With his win, Roberto is now 4-0 in singles this season, while Kaukovalta, Zhou, Gshwendtner and Retke all went to 3-1.

SINGLES

Patrick Kaukovalta (UA) def. Malik Bhatnagar (LSU) 6-3, 6-2
Zhe Zhou (UA) def. Boris Kozlov (LSU) 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
Riccardo Roberto (UA) def. Jan Soeren Hain (Ole Miss) 6-4, 3-6, 6-0
Jeremy Gschwendtner (UA) def. Ben Koch (LSU) 6-1, 6-4
Vincent Rettke (UA) def. Tomas Descarrega (LSU) 6-3, 7-6(3)
Nick Watson (LSU) def. Alexey Nesterov (UA) 7-6(4), 7-5
Tom Pisane (LSU) def. Marcelo Sepulveda Garza (UA) 6-3, 6-2

DOUBLES

Patrick Kaukovalta/Riccardo Roberto (UA) def. Malik Bhatnagar/Ben Koch (LSU) 8-4
Alexey Nesterov/Zhe Zhou (UA) def. Tomas Descarrega/Tom Pisane (LSU) 9-8(6)
Rafael Wagner/Ronnie Hohmann (LSU) def. Edson Ortiz/Marcelo Sepulveda Garza (UA) 3-4, ret.

Up Next

The Crimson Tide will continue play at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday along with Mississippi State, Ole Miss, LSU and Tennessee, competing in both singles and doubles.

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