Men’s tennis opens fall season in Tulsa

Troy men's tennis opened its fall season at the ITA-All American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, where itcame up short in both singles and doubles matches.

"Overall, we played at a very good level," said head coach Rolando Vargas. "We played very good teams and created opportunities, especially on the second day.

Ausia Martin Melo started off for the Trojans in singles play for the Round of 256 against Wisconsin's Tomas Zlatohlavek. Zlatohlavek claimed the match by winning both sets 6-2, 6-0, resulting in Martin Melo enteringinto the consolation bracket for Sunday.

The Trojan then took on Georgia’s Maxime Dubouch in the PQ Consolation draw Round of 128 for singles play. Martin Melo lost 6-3 in the first but came back to win 6-3 in the second set. The Spain native battled, bringing Dubouch to the brink before falling 7-5.

As for the Round of 32 doubles matches on Saturday, Luciano Alcocer and Stephan Tavares Noale paired up against Penn's Shaurya Bharadwaj and Vojtech Vales. The Trojans kept the first set close before Bharadwaj and Vales claimed set one, 6-4. The Trojans then lost 7-5 in the second set.

Alcocer Tavares Noale and Tavares Noale came back to the courts on Sunday for their doubles match against Liberty’s Siwanatj Auytayakul and Rodrigo Santiago Arraez in the Consolation Round of 16. The pair won the second set, 7-5, after Liberty claimed the first set, 6-4. The match ended with Auytayakul and Santiago Arraez winning a drawn-out set three, 10-8.

“We played so much better, and we settled better,” Vargas said. “We just need to be a little bit more defensive, but I'm happy that we were able to compete at this level.

“We just got to keep moving forward for the upcoming tournaments."

After competing in the tournament, Troy is now 0-0-1 overall. The Trojans will be back in action on Monday, Sept. 28, for the ITF Futures Tournament in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at the Billingsley Tennis Center.