Spartans Finish Up Time at ITA All-American Championships

East Lansing, Mich. – Spartans men's tennis had a chance to start off the season with the ITA All-American Championships this past week.

Sophomore Taym Alazmeh, senior Max Sheldon, and junior David Saye started out in Pre-Qualifying.

Saye fell to Manfredi Grazini of University of Pennsylvania 6-3, 2-6, 0-6 in the first round ending his week in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Alazmeh took on Jordan Hasson of University of Oklahoma, winning 7-6, 6-2, to move himself onto the next round. After a tough battle in the second round, he defeated Soham Purohit of University of Washington 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Winning this match kept him playing to take on Julien Penzlin of Louisiana State University , where he lost 4-6, 6-3, 4-6.

Sheldon started out Pre-Qualifying with a win against Gabriele Brancatelli of Georgia Tech 6-1, 6-0. He moved on to take on Conor Gannon of University of Memphis, winning 6-4, 6-7, 6-3. After that tough win, he went on to take on conference rival Christopher Li of Ohio State University winning 6-7 [6-8] 6-4, 6-4. Those wins brought Sheldon in the qualifying where he defeated Alexander Hoogermarten of University of Callifornia, Los Angeles 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Defeating William Mroz of University of Illinois brought Sheldon into the Main Draw. Winning that match meant that Sheldon was one of five players to make it from PQ to MD, the only one in Big Ten to do so.

Going into Thursday, Sheldon was 6-0 on the week as well as winning Big Ten Men's Tennis Player of the Week. In his last match of the week, he fell to Aidan Kim, Ohio State University 2-6, 6-3, 3-6.

Paired up with Sheldon for doubles was Matthew Forbes. They took on Timothy Seger/Gus Tettamble of University of Tulsa, winning 6-4, 7-6 [7-5]. In the next round, they lost to Thomas Paulsell/Ryan Colby, University of Georgia 2-6, 1-6.

Joining Sheldon in qualifying were junior Aristotelis Thanos, junior Ozan Baris, and freshman Matthew Forbes.

Forbes started out this week with a strong comeback after being down 2-6, against Shunsuke Mitsui of University of Tennessee. In the second round of the Main Draw, he couldn't find the fire he had in the first round to win his second match. Forbes lost to Jonah Braswell, University of Texas 6-1, 2-6, 4-6. Continuing his fight in a consolation match, Forbes won two matches giving him another chance to continue the weekend. In his next match, Forbes fell to Colton Smith of University of Arizona, 2-6, 6-7.

Thanos defeated Top Nidunjianzan of Princeton University 6-2, 6-4 in his first match of the tournament. With a win against Spencer Johnson, University of California, Los Angeles (6-4, 6-4), Michigan State had the most players of any school in the country in the main draw. His third match ended in a loss, 3-6, 5-7.

After a good start in the beginning of the match, Baris could not finish out his fight losing 6-2, 2-6, 1-6.

Thanos and Baris were paired up together in doubles this weekend. They went up against Andrii Zimnokh/Zach Foster, University of Alabama, winning 7-6 [7-3], 6-2. Coming off a strong win, they could not pull off another win against Togan Tokac/Giulio Perego, Texas A&M University, losing 6-3, 5-7 [12-14]

These Spartans will now head back home to prepare for M15 Ann Arbor on Sept. 30-Oct. 3.

Spartans Finish Up Time at ITA All-American Championships

Players Mentioned

Taym Alazmeh

Ozan Baris

Matthew Forbes

David Saye

Max Sheldon

Aristotelis Thanos

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