HILLSDALE, Mich. - Tiffin men's tennis put forth a great showing at their season-opening tournament, winning half of the finished brackets of the Charger Invitational on Sunday.
The tournament also marked the first varsity competition of the year for Tiffin Athletics, and the first event since the cancellations in mid-March. The invite was made up of the historically top four programs in the GMAC as TU battled Findlay, Walsh, and host Hillsdale.
Out of the six completed singles flights and four doubles flights, the Dragons claimed two singles and three doubles titles. Hillsdale took the other four singles flights while Findlay won the only doubles flight that didn't go to Tiffin.
Nair Adi led the impressive showing in his first action as a Dragon, taking the #1 singles flight with a pair of exciting tiebreaker wins over Hillsdale (6-3, 3-6, 10-5) and Walsh (4-6, 7-5, 10-8). The graduate transfer also paired with Hugo Chatras to win the #3 doubles flight, taking down Walsh 7-5 before defeating Hillsdale 6-2.
Michael Gurtner also won his singles flight at #4, defeating Walsh 6-4, 6-3 and Hillsdale in a thriller by a final of 6-3, 6-7 (14), 10-7.
Matthew Telford (#2 singles), Joe Gilman (#3), and Chatras (#5) all won their opening matches to reach the finals of their flights, each finishing as the runner-up. Gabriel de Oliveira also battled back from a loss in his opening match to win the #6 singles back draw.
In addition to the Adi/Chatras victory at #3 doubles, Tiffin also won the #2 and #4 doubles flights. Gilman and Telford took the title at #2 with two very close matches, a 7-6 (6) victory over Walsh and a 7-6 (3) win over Findlay. At #4, Austin Mohamedali and Matt Saunders advanced through the opening round via a bye and made quick work of Hillsdale in the final by a 6-1 score.
Tiffin has one more competition scheduled in the fall season, visiting Lourdes for a dual match on Sept. 26 with a 2:00 p.m. start.