NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A trio of Purdue men's tennis players went 3-1 in their first day of main draw singles action at the USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships Thursday. All three Boilermakers won at least one match while playing on the courts of Vanderbilt's Currey Tennis Center.
The round of 32 doubles, featuring third-seeded and 41st-ranked Diego Acosta and Ricky Medinilla, will begin Friday at 9:30 ET, followed by the round of 64 singles. First round consolation play will begin at the conclusion of the round of 64. After first round consolation is wrapped up, the round of 32 singles will be played, followed by the second round of consolations, then the round of 16 doubles will take to the courts.
Twelfth-seeded Medinilla received a first round bye and cruised to victory in his match against Josh Malyon of Dayton, 6-3, 6-2. The Boilermaker sophomore improved to 4-1 with the win and advanced to the round of 32 where he will battle Tennessee's No. 28-seed Igor Smelyanski.
After a first round bye, Mateus Silva rebounded from a 6-3 opening set loss to Suresh Eswaren of Vanderbilt to take the next two sets, 6-3 and 6-4. The junior moves into Friday's round of 32 to face 10th-seeded and 114th-ranked Diego Nunez of Eastern Tennessee State.
Acosta was the only Purdue player that had to play a first round match, to which he took a straight set 6-3, 6-2 victory over Belmont's Cedric Dujacquier. He was dealt a 7-6 (0), 6-3 setback at the hands of Indiana's 24th-seeded Raheel Manji to fall into consolation action.
USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships format features singles matches playing the best of three sets with no-ad scoring and a tiebreak at six all. Doubles are playing an eight-game pro set with no-ad scoring and a tiebreak at seven all.
In addition to Purdue and host Vanderbilt, teams represented at USTA/ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships include: Austin Peay, Ball State, Belmont, Butler, Chattanooga, Dayton, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Tennessee State, Indiana, IUPUI, Kentucky, Lipscomb, Louisville, Memphis, Middle Tennessee State, Morehead State, Murray State, Northern Kentucky, Tennessee, Tennessee Tech and Xavier.
Singles and doubles champions from each of the 12 USTA/ITA Division I Regional Championships will advance to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Nov. 6-9 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.