COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The University of Denver men's tennis player and freshman Samuel Rovai advanced to the singles semifinals of his draw on the first day of the 2024 Bedford Cup in the Mountains, hosted by the Air Force Academy, on Friday.
 
In his first appearance as a Pioneer, freshman Samuel Rovai advanced to the semifinals of the Raptor (B) Draw with a straight-sets win in the round of 16 before coming from a set down in the quarterfinals against Montana's Moritz Lesjak.
 
Fellow DU freshman Mark Neyelov also advanced to the Raptor Draw quarters after topping the No. 1 seed in straight sets. In his quarterfinal match, he split the first two sets in tiebreaks before dropping the third, 4-6.
 
In the Lightning (A) Draw, senior Rikuto Yamaguchi fell to the No. 2 overall seed from Boise State in two close sets but rebounded with a win in a 10-point breaker against Chris Zhang from Montana in a consolation match.
 
Freshman Theo Coats lost two tight matches in the Falcon (C) Draw, starting by him forcing a third set with a win in a second-set tiebreaker in his opening match before dropping the third. He played two more tiebreaks in a consolation match and kept them close before losing both.
 
Senior Relja Eskic won his first match after not playing for the Pioneers in 2023-24, dropping the first set but ultimately coming out on top in the round of 32 of the Eagle (D) Draw. He fell in the round of 16 to the draw's No. 7 seed.
 
In doubles, Denver debuted two first-time teams in Neyelov/Yamaguchi and Coats/Rovai. The all-freshman duo of Coats and Rovai dropped its opening match before defeating Air Force's Kersten/Leaird, 6-3, in a consolation match.
 
Play continues at the Bedford Cup with the doubles quarterfinals and semifinals, and the singles semifinals on Saturday, September 28. Matches are scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. MT.
 
Elsewhere in Denver men's tennis, senior Daniel Sancho Arbizu upset two top-ranked players from USC and Duke in his main draw consolation matches at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., on Friday. He will play in the consolation round of 16 on Saturday.

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BEDFORD CUP IN THE MOUNTAINS
FRIDAY'S DOUBLES RESULTS
Round of 32: Amadike/Moroder (Idaho) def. [3] Neyelov/Yamaguchi: 6-3
Round of 32: Campos/Wallin (New Mexico State) def. Coats/Rovai: 6-4
Consolation Match: Feigin/Rojas (New Mexico State) def. [3] Neyelov/Yamaguchi: 6-2
Consolation Match: Coats/Rovai def. Kersten/Leaird (Air Force): 6-3
 
FRIDAY'S SINGLES RESULTS
LIGHTNING (A) DRAW
Round of 16: [2] Carson Baker (Boise State) def. Rikuto Yamaguchi: 7-5 7-6(5)
Consolation Match: Rikuto Yamaguchi def. Chris Zhang (Montana): 6-4 5-7 [10-4]
 
RAPTOR (B) DRAW
Round of 16: [2] Samuel Rovai def. Semen Aginskiy (Northern Arizona): 6-3 6-4
Round of 16: Mark Neyelov def. [1] Taiyo Kurata (Boise State): 6-1 7-5
Quarterfinal: [2] Samuel Rovai def. Moritz Lesjak (Montana): 4-6 6-4 6-3
Quarterfinal: Duncan McCall (Montana) def. Mark Neyelov: 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 6-4
 
FALCON (C) DRAW
Round of 16: Takumi Katsuda (Northern Arizona) def. [4] Theo Coats: 6-4 6-7(7) 6-3
Consolation Match: Langdon Tingleaf (Air Force) def. [4] Theo Coats: 7-6(6) 7-6(5)
 
EAGLE (D) DRAW
Round of 32: Relja Eskic def. Roberto Hernandez (UNLV): 5-7 6-4 6-1
Round of 16: [7] Roko Stipetic (New Mexico State) def. Relja Eskic: 7-5 6-4
 
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SATURDAY'S DOUBLES SCHEDULE
Consolation Match: [3] Neyelov/Yamaguchi vs. Coutinho/Day (Weber State)
Consolation Match: Coats/Rovai vs. Kurata/Jaen (Boise State)
 
SATURDAY'S SINGLES SCHEDULE
LIGHTNING (A) DRAW
Consolation Match: Rikuto Yamaguchi vs. Tobias Wallin (New Mexico State)
 
RAPTOR (B) DRAW
Semifinal: [2] Samuel Rovai vs. Tygen Goldammer (BYU)
Consolation Match: Mark Neyelov vs. David Duong (BYU)
 
FALCON (C) DRAW
Consolation Match: [4] Theo Coats vs. Eliot Nobel (Utah State)
 
EAGLE (D) DRAW
Consolation Match: Relja Eskic vs. Dylan Jaen (Boise State)
 
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