Chambana Sun

The Fighting Illini men's tennis team commenced the Fighting Illini Invite with a victory in the doubles tournament and secured two ranked singles wins in the hidden dual. The event, which includes student-athletes from Illinois, No. 8 Columbia, and Boise State, will continue through Sunday at Atkins Tennis Center.

On the first day of competition, William Mroz and Jeremy Zhang teamed up to win the doubles tournament title. They achieved a 6-2 victory over Boise State's Julius Seifert and Dylan Jaen in their opening match and followed it with a 6-3 win against Carson Baker and John Chin from Boise State.

Mathis Debru and Kenta Miyoshi also won both of their doubles matches. They came back to defeat Columbia's Nicolas Kotzen and Michael Zheng 7-6(3) before securing a 6-4 win against Max Westphal and Sachin Palta from Columbia.

Tyler Bowers and Zach Viiala split their two doubles matches, defeating Seifert/Jaen from Boise State in one of them.

After Boise State and Columbia played a round of singles matches, Illinois engaged in its hidden dual against athletes representing both the Broncos and Lions.

William Mroz claimed his first ranked victory of the spring by winning a three-set match against No. 111 Jett Middleton. He captured the first set but lost the second before sealing the win with an ace on match point after securing a late break.

Kenta Miyoshi earned Illinois' second ranked singles win shortly after Mroz's triumph. Despite losing the initial set, Miyoshi rebounded with consecutive 6-3 victories in the second and third sets to overcome Columbia's No. 42 Nicolas Kotzen.

The action is set to resume at Atkins Tennis Center on Saturday at noon Central Time.