Tartans Open Play at Home Invitational

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) - The Carnegie Mellon University men's tennis team started its season with an open invitational against Duquesne University Friday, September 6.

In doubles action, juniors Christian Heaney-Secord (Westwood, Mass./Westwood) and Will Duncan (Newbury Park, Calif./Newbury Park) defeated Rich Robbie and Alex Aleman 8-4 while sophomore Paul Okuda (Kaneohe, Hawaii/Punahou) and freshman Jack Kasbeer (Lake Forest, Ill./Deerfield) defeated Corey Robinson and Matt Slamecka 8-1. In the finals doubles match, junior Bryce Beisswanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint School) and freshman Kenny Zheng (Pennington, N.J. / Hopewell Valley Central) defeated Jimmy Xu and Mehdi Mekaoui 8-1.

In singles play, freshman Kiril Kirkov (Tampa, Fla./C. Leon King) won two matches, 9-7 against Aleman and 8-4 against Robbie. Zheng won his singles match 8-3 against Slamecka while freshman Kunal Wadwani (Saratoga, Calif./Ballarmine College Prep) won 9-7 and junior Julian Pearlman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) won 8-2.

Sophomore Abhishek Alla (Hyderabad, India/IMG Pendleton School) later defeated Aleman 8-4 while fellow sophomore Yuvraj Kumar (New Delhi, India/Millfield School) topped Xu 8-2. Duncan also took a singles victory, defeating Robinson 8-5.