Four teams take the lead on Day One of OUA Tennis Championships

LONDON, Ont. — If there was one prevalent theme on day one of the OUA championships at the Western Tennis Centre, it was straight-sets victories, as only three matches— one on the women's side and two on the men's— took more than a pair of sets to decide.

On the men's side, both of those three-set victories went to the Waterloo Warriors, one of two teams to send all six of their competitors to the next round. The other team to do so were the Montreal Carabins, who didn't drop a single set on their way to a perfect day. The Mustangs—hosts and defending champions at the tournament— were next in line with five wins.

On the women's side, the draw was even more tightly contested, with York, Western, and Toronto all sending six of their players through in straight sets. Montreal remained close behind with five competitors advancing while Carleton had the only player— Isabella Boushey (1-6, 6-4, 6-4)— outside of the top four teams to earn a trip to the next round as McMaster, UOIT and Waterloo were all shut out.

Montreal's men's team was dominant on the day, outdueling their opponents to the tune of 73 games to 20. Competing in the bottom three flights, Remi Trudeau, Demian Aquino, and Sebastien Hirt each shut out their opponents 6-0, 6-0, while Colomban Bounine (7-5, 6-3), Augustin Lazarus (6-4, 6-2) and Andrew Bajaars (6-2, 6-4) also advanced for the Carabins.

Waterloo ended up with the same result as Montreal, although they took more sets to get there. John Chan lost his first set 3-6 to York's Pranav Yardi before coming back to take the next two 6-1 6-1, while teammate Lee Follis finished with an identical score in his hard-fought match against the Lions' Jordan Lima. York would finish the day without a player in the second round, a fate they shared with UOIT.

In front of Toronto and McMaster, who had four and two players advance, respectively, were the defending champion Mustangs with five. Kurtis Alexander, Andre Szilvassy, Aman Dhaliwal, Vahagn Tonakanian, and Alex Low all advanced, while Western's top seed in Zack Harmath lost a tough match to Carleton's Jaser El-Halbrouk 6-3, 6-3. Low was the only Mustang not to drop a set on the day, beating Bryan Luu 6-0, 6-0, while Alexander, Dhaliwal and Tonakanian each conceded just one set in their victories.

York's women's team was almost perfect Friday, dropping just one set on their way to shutting out UOIT. Valerie Ushanova, who is coming off a silver medal at last years OUA championships, was one of five Lions to sweep their matches, as Julia Kedrzycki, Kelsi Smith, Shivanie Skandaraja and Sonia Glushkovsky also did not drop a set.

The defending OUA champions in Toronto also impressed on the day. The Varsity Blues Steffi Wong set the tone with a 6-0, 6-0 victory over McMaster's Priti Gujdhar while teammate Victoria Au had perhaps the most hard-fought match, dominating the first set against Alina Kaas 6-2 before Kaas gave her all she could handle in the second. Au would escape the set with a 7-6 victory

The Mustangs rounded out the undefeated trio of schools, as Susan Huang (6-4, 6-0),  Michelle Stanescu (6-2, 6-0), Josie McCann (6-0, 6-1), Melissa Lee (6-1, 6-2) and Mariana Prado (6-5, 6-3) all advanced in straight sets. Western is looking to move into the top three and snag a medal this year after finishing on the outside looking in at the 2013 OUA championships.

Day two of the OUA Tennis Championships will continue today— Saturday, October 4— at the Western Tennis Centre. The tournament concludes on Sunday afternoon with the medal ceremonies scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

Day One Results (PDF)

Source: Western Mustangs