Lansing Sun

Spartans men's tennis team participated in the ITA All-American Championships, marking the start of their season. The event saw several players from Michigan State University competing in various rounds.

Sophomore Taym Alazmeh, senior Max Sheldon, and junior David Saye began in Pre-Qualifying. Saye faced Manfredi Grazini of the University of Pennsylvania but lost 6-3, 2-6, 0-6 in the first round. Alazmeh won against Jordan Hasson of the University of Oklahoma with a score of 7-6, 6-2 and continued to defeat Soham Purohit of the University of Washington 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. However, he was eventually defeated by Julien Penzlin of Louisiana State University with scores of 4-6, 6-3, 4-6.

Sheldon started strong by defeating Gabriele Brancatelli of Georgia Tech 6-1, 6-0 and then Conor Gannon from the University of Memphis with scores of 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. He continued his winning streak against Christopher Li from Ohio State University with scores of 6-7 [8], 6-4, and again at qualifying where he defeated Alexander Hoogermarten from UCLA and William Mroz from the University of Illinois. This performance brought Sheldon into the Main Draw as one out of five players making it from PQ to MD and the only one from Big Ten.

On Thursday, Sheldon had a record of six wins for the week and earned Big Ten Men's Tennis Player of the Week before losing to Aidan Kim from Ohio State University with scores of 2-6, 6-3, and 3-6.

In doubles play paired with Matthew Forbes, Sheldon faced Timothy Seger/Gus Tettamble from the University of Tulsa winning their match but later lost to Thomas Paulsell/Ryan Colby from the University of Georgia.

Joining Sheldon in qualifying were juniors Aristotelis Thanos and Ozan Baris along with freshman Matthew Forbes. Forbes had a comeback win after being down against Shunsuke Mitsui from Tennessee but lost in his second-round match to Jonah Braswell from Texas. In consolation matches, Forbes won two matches before falling to Colton Smith from Arizona.

Thanos secured victories over Top Nidunjianzan from Princeton and Spencer Johnson from UCLA before losing his third match. Baris also competed but couldn't finish strong after starting well in his match.

In doubles competition together this weekend were Thanos and Baris who won against Andrii Zimnokh/Zach Foster from Alabama but could not secure another win against Togan Tokac/Giulio Perego from Texas A&M.

The Spartans will now prepare for M15 Ann Arbor scheduled for September 30th to October 3rd.