ASU Tennis: Sun Devils win first tournament for new program

ASU tennis won their first tournament since the program’s resurrection, winning all three games in the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic.

The 20th-ranked Sun Devils defeated Boise State, Fresno State and Alabama, extending their win streak to eight games.

The tournament began on Friday, with matches against the Broncos and the Bulldogs.

Arizona State kicked off their run with a dominant 4-0 win against Boise State.

Although the duo of Michael Geerts and Thomas Wright were beaten soundly by Kyle Butters and Jack Heslin, the other two pairs were able to secure victories that led to the doubles point.

Benjamin Hannestad and Tim Ruehl, as well as Makey Rakotomalala and Andrea Bolla, won their match 6-4. The identical wins earned Arizona State the doubles point and an early 1-0 lead.

Singles wins in straight sets by Geerts, Hannestad and Rakotomalala clinched the shutout for the Sun Devils.

In the next match, against Fresno State, Arizona State earned the doubles point yet again. This time, without dropping a match.

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Geerts and Wright won their match against Mantas Bugailiskis and Cem Erturk 6-3, while Hannestad and Ruehl strolled to a 6-0 victory over Zdenek Derkas and Youssef Hassan.

The singles matches did not come as easy as the previous round, as the Bulldogs managed to take two points.

Bolla and Wright dropped their matches to Erturk and Cagatay Soke, respectively.

However, wins by Geerts, Rakotomalala and Hannestad helped bring the Sun Devils up to four points again.

Then Saturday rolled around, which set up Arizona State with Alabama for the tournament’s title match.

In the final, the Devils needed a comeback, as they lost the doubles point to the Crimson Tide.

Geerts and Wright dropped a close game to Alabama’s Edson Ortiz and Mazen Osama, 7-6.

Hannestad and Ruehl were on the same path, as they were tied with Thibault Cancel and Alexey Nesterov at 6-6 before the match was called.

The shortened match was a result of the 6-3 win of Riccardo Roberto and Patrick Kaukovalta over Rakotomalala and Bolla.

However, the singles matches swung in Arizona State’s favor.

The Sun Devils earned their first point after easy sets of 6-1 and 6-2 by Hannestad over Cancel.

The next domino fell in Ruehl’s defeat of Ortiz. The 6-2 and 6-1 sets gave Arizona State another stress-free point to give them a 2-1 lead.

Then, Andrea Bolla had his chance at revenge. He downed Roberto in sets of 6-2 and 6-4 to give the Sun Devils a 3-1 lead.

After wins from Alabama’s Nesterov and Kaukovalta, the match was tied 3-3.

In the end, the match came down to a match on the first court between Geerts and Osama.

Geerts avenged his close doubles loss in a thrilling victory over Osama. Three sets — which ended 2-6, 7-6 and 6-4 — later and ASU had won the tournament.

Next: ASU Tennis: Sun Devils push win streak to five with wins over San Diego and Pepperdine

Now, head coach Matt Hill will prepare the team for a March 8 matchup with Stanford, the nation’s second-ranked team, as well as on with California on March 10.