ST. HELENA, Calif. ? With a singles title and accompanying wild-card entry into a future USTA Pro Circuit tournament on the line, five Golden Bears hit the courts on the first day of action in the Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic on Friday. The Bears captured four victories ? three in singles and one in doubles ? on a hot day at the Meadowood Napa Valley Resort.
The event's singles tournament is a round-robin affair, in which the eight group winners advance to Sunday's Solinco USTA Shootout to determine the champion.
Playing amidst temperatures in the mid 90s, senior Mads Engsted collected one of Cal's victories on Friday, toppling Princeton's Kial Kaiser, 6-2, 6-3. Sophomore Billy Griffith also won, beating the USTSA Junior National Team's Zeke Clark, 6-1, 6-4. Junior Florian Lakat added a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over the USTA juniors' J.J. Wolf.
Oliver Crawford, another USTA junior, topped Cal senior Oskar Wikberg in a tight match, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8), while Baylor's Will Little beat Cal sophomore J.T. Nishimura, 7-5, 6-3.
In doubles, Lakat and Wikberg bested Florida's Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin, 6-4, but the Cal duo of Engsted and Nishimura fell to Liam Caruana and George Goldhoff of Texas, 7-5. Griffith teamed up with Stanford's Roy Lederman, but the pair lost to Baylor's Little and Jimmy Bendeck, 6-4.
Day two of the Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic ? hosted by Cal ? begins at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday at Meadowood.
Cal Results at the Porsche Napa Valley Tennis Classic
Sept. 25, 2015, in St. Helena, Calif.
Meadowood Napa Valley Resort
Singles
Mads Engsted (Cal) def. Kial Kaiser (Princeton) ? 6-2, 6-3
Billy Griffith (Cal) def. Zeke Clark (USTA Juniors) ? 6-1, 6-4
Florian Lakat (Cal) def. J.T. Wolf (USTA Juniors) ? 6-4, 6-2
Oliver Crawford (USTA Juniors) def. Oskar Wikberg (Cal) ? 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(8)
Will Little (Baylor) def. J.T. Nishimura (Cal) ? 7-5, 6-3
Doubles
Florian Lakat/Oskar Wikberg (Cal) def. Maxx Lipman/Elliott Orkin (Florida) ? 6-4
Liam Caruana/George Goldhoff (Texas) def. Mads Engsted/J.T. Nishimura (Cal) ? 7-5
Jimmy Bendeck/Will Little (Baylor) def. Billy Griffith (Cal)/ Roy Lederman (Stanford) ? 6-4
