Lansing Sun

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State's men's tennis team marked a successful home opener weekend by securing victories against Vanderbilt and Western Michigan. Following a notable win over Kentucky on Friday night, the No. 23 Spartans faced off against Vanderbilt early Sunday morning.

The doubles matches saw mixed results for the Spartans, with Henry Ruger and Hugo Coquelin of Vanderbilt defeating Ozan Baris and Vuk Radjenovic 6-3, as well as Taym Alazmeh and Danial Rakhmatullayev 6-1. The unfinished match between Matthew Forbes/Max Sheldon and Panarin/Martinez-Gomez left the doubles point to Vanderbilt.

In singles play, the Spartans rallied from an initial deficit. Forbes secured a point due to an opponent's injury forfeit, tying the teams. Alazmeh followed with a victory over Pablo Martinez-Gomez in straight sets, while Rakhmatullayev defeated Henry Ruger 6-3, 7-5. Sophomore Aristotelis Thanos also claimed a win against Danil Panarin.

Baris overcame Nathan Cox in three sets, while Michael Ross of Vanderbilt bested Radjenovic in another three-set match.

Later that day, Michigan State continued their strong performance against Western Michigan. Notably, brothers Max and Mitchell Sheldon played doubles together for the first time collegiately.

"That's a relief," said MSU Head Coach Harry Jadun about pairing the siblings. "Having both brothers come through here is a special moment."

Mitchell Sheldon expressed his excitement: "It was just super fun... playing with your brother makes it a lot more fun." His brother Max added: "I wanted to relieve the pressure... he stepped up and showed us what he can do."

The Sheldons' victory helped secure the doubles point for MSU against Western Michigan. In singles play, Forbes and Mitchell Sheldon quickly won their matches without dropping games or sets respectively.

Josh Portnoy defeated Matej Kajzer convincingly, while David Saye came back to defeat Jack Davidson after trailing initially. Max Sheldon continued his success by beating Anton Arzhankin.

Despite Ashton Adesoro defeating Radjenovic in their singles encounter, MSU concluded with a solid overall performance heading into their next challenge at Fort Worth's ITA Kickoff Weekend hosted by TCU.