VILLANOVA, Pa.—The first day of the men's tennis season provided a highlight worthy of lasting the entire year as junior Justin Suarez (Manila, Philippines) won an epic tiebreaker over Gilberto Rivera Gordillo of Loyola (Md.) to advance himself and sophomore Anthony Prokurat (Manalapan, N.J.) to the second round of the White Draw at the Villanova Invitational on Friday afternoon. It was a strong start to the season for the Wildcats, who were a combined 14-4 on Friday and advanced to the second round in five of six matches on the first day of their 10^th annual home tournament.
 
Suarez and Prokurat rallied to advance out of the first round of the White Draw as each won their singles matches following a 6-3 loss to Tyler Mast and Rivera Gordillo in the teams' doubles competition. Prokurat made quick work of Mast (6-2, 6-0) in singles to tie the match at 1-1 before Suarez took the court against Rivera Gordillo for the decisive tiebreaking match which turned into an instant classic. Suarez lost a tiebreaker (7-4) to drop the first set, cruised through the second set without dropping a game and then outlasted Rivera Gordillo in a thrilling 34-point tiebreaker to win the match 6-7 (4), 6-0, 18-16. The second round of the White Draw on Saturday will pit Prokurat and Suarez against the team of Benito Vlassis and Nick Potter from Colgate who had a first round bye on Friday afternoon.
 
Earlier in the White Draw bracket the team of sophomore Noah Winton (Columbia, Mo.) and senior Matthew Jones (Dallas, Texas) swept their way past Oliver Day and Colin Corsini of Loyola (Md.) to advance to the second round. They won their doubles match by a 6-2 score to begin their day, Winton defeated Davey in singles (6-4, 6-3) and Jones tallied an 8-6 victory over Corsini to close out the match. Winton and Jones will face Josh Israel and Mikey Weitz from Colgate in the second round on Saturday.
 
Villanova had three teams playing in the Blue Draw and they combined to go 8-1 in Friday's action. Junior Alex Kim (Cary, N.C.) and sophomore Ryan Nguyen (Oakton, Va.) swept their three matches against a team from Swarthmore, while sophomores Josh Robinson (Potomac, Md.) and Eitan Khromchenko (Manalapan, N.J.) also posted a sweep of a team from Loyola (Md.) to reach the second round. The two freshmen on this year's Wildcats roster, Trey Fourticq (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Lukas Choi (Franklin Lakes, N.J.), defeated a team from Loyola (Md.) to advance to the second round in their first taste of collegiate competition. Fourticq provided the clinching point with a 6-3, 6-0 win in his singles match against Skyler Gates.
 
Kim and Nguyen opened the day with a 6-3 doubles victory over Stephen Wong and Noah Criss, while Kim clinched a second round berth with a 6-1, 5-7, 10-6 singles win over Wong. Nguyen followed suit with an 8-2 decision over Criss. They move on to a second round match against Thomas You and James Yu from Johns Hopkins. The team of Robinson and Khromchenko posted a 6-1 win over Benny Glezer and Ryan Boland of Loyola (Md.) in their doubles match, while both Robinson (6-0, 6-1) and Khromchenko (8-3) easily won their singles matches on the day.
 
Villanova's team of junior Will Gatti (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and senior Collin Klumb (Leawood, Kan.) played one of the closer matches of the day against Loyola (Md.) before ultimately falling in two of the three matches played. The pair lost their doubles competition against Liam Rompre and Jorge Quintana (6-3) and Gatti was narrowly defeated after pushing Rompre to a tiebreaker in singles (7-5, 5-7, 10-4). Klumb scored an 8-4 win over Quintana.
 
Second round matches pick up at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday on what will be a full slate of action at the Villanova Tennis Complex.