Cougars strong on first day of BYU Invite

PROVO, Utah – BYU men’s tennis opened up their fall season Thursday with a strong showing at the BYU Invitational. Led by sophomore Juan Canales, with dominating victories in both of his matches, the Cougars have five men advancing to the third round.

"Our guys are playing lots of matches against good competition," said head coach Brad Pearce. "We are looking forward to tomorrow's matches."

Daily Bracket

Canales picked up his first win by beating Adrien Garcia Canedo (6-0, 6-1) in the first round and Jacob Tullis (6-1, 6-3) in round two. Andrey Goryachkov, Aidan Carrazedo, Shane Monroe and Robin Pfister all had first round byes and won their second round match to move into the third round as well. Goryachkov beat Jonathan Dollahite in straight sets (6-3, 6-2), Carrazedo defeated teammate David Ball (6-4, 6-4), Monroe beat Gascon Louis-Philippe (6-1, 6-3) and Pfister won his second round match against teammate Victor Brown (6-3, 6-1).

Brown won his first match of the day, beating Justin Archer (7-6, 6-3), before losing to Pfister. Ball had a first round bye before falling at the hands of Carrazedo. Jeremy Bourgeois also had a first round bye before falling to James Swiggart (6-4, 6-4). BYU's Jacob Sullivan won his first-round match, beating Ryan Layton (6-0, 6-0), before falling to Santiago Sierra in straight sets (6-4, 7-5). All three Cougars will move into the consolation bracket Friday.

The BYU doubles duo of Brown and Pfister also played in the first round today, beating the team of Justin Archer and Johan Jonhagen (8-6). Doubles play continues at 11:00 a.m. Friday when the BYU doubles teams of Bourgeois/Canales takes on Kendl Hansen/Louis-Philippe and Ball/Monroe play Tullis/Dollahite. Goryachkov and coach Pearce, who had a first-round bye, will play their second-round match against Nicholas and George Chingas at 5:00 p.m. Another BYU doubles team of Carrazedo and Sullivan also had a first-round bye and will play their second-round match at the same time.

All of the Cougars will play their next singles matches Friday at 1:00 p.m. except for Ball who plays his next match in the consolation bracket at 3:15 p.m. Goryachkov, Canales, Carrazedo, Monroe and Pfister will all play in the third round while Sullivan, Bourgeois and Brown will play in the consolation bracket with Ball.