Men's Tennis Competes at USTA in NYC: Day 1

Six members of the Princeton men's tennis team began play Friday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Men's College Tennis Invitational in the form of three doubles teams, two of which won their opening matches.

Both of Princeton's first-flight teams won. Peter Capkovic and Alex Vuckovic defeated a Columbia pair 8-6, while George Carpeni and Alex Kruger-Wyman won over an Alabama duo 8-1. Capkovic and Vuckovic will meet a Harvard twosome Saturday morning while Carpeni and Kruger-Wyman will meet a Brown pair.

Princeton's entry in the third flight, a younger pair in sophomore Parker Preyer and freshman Yohei Shoji, lost 8-6 to a team from St. John's. Play will continue for Preyer and Shoji, however, against a Marist pair Saturday morning.

Later Friday in singles play, Princeton had three players in the top singles draw with Kruger-Wyman, Capkovic and Carpeni. Kruger-Wyman lost his first match to Kalle Norberg from Mississippi, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, before defeating Bogden Borta from Columbia in a walkover. He will meet Yale's Jeff Dawson in his last singles match Saturday.

Peter Capkovic lost to Brown's Chris Lee, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(5), before falling again to Cornell's Kyle Doppelt in a walkover. Capkovic will face Yale's Mike Caldwell Saturday. Carpeni lost to Harvard's Chris Clayton, 6-3, 6-3 before defeating Caldwell, 6-3, 6-1. Carpeni will face Doppelt Saturday.

Preyer won his first two matches in the sixth singles flight, defeating St. John's Derek Wallensteen, 6-0, 6-1, and Marist's Landon Greene 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Preyer will face Cornell's Connor Sherwood Saturday. In the seventh singles flight, Shoji defeated Marist's Rhys Hobbs, 7-5, 6-3, before falling to Dartmouth's Chris Ho, 6-1, 6-3. Shoji will face Hobbs again Saturday.