Bakshi, Calvo Earn Singles Titles

NORMAN – In their first action as Sooners, OU men's tennis' Alex Bakshi and Ferran Calvo both won tournament titles in singles on Sunday as the opening weekend of action concluded.

Bakshi and Calvo, who both transferred to OU prior to this season, combined to go 8-0 on the weekend in singles at two separate events. Bakshi won the Napa Valley Tennis Classic in Napa Valley, Calif., while Calvo claimed the Racquet Club Collegiate Classic final in held in Midland, Texas.

“Our goal this weekend was to compete really hard and strive to do the right things on and off the court,” head coach Nick Crowell said. “Preparation and attitude are so important to our overall success. We knew if we were focused on these things we would be successful.

“Both (Alex) Bakshi and (Ferran) Calvo combined to go 8-0 in singles on the weekend and to bring home both titles was very impressive. We look to continue to work really hard and keep prepping for the season.”

Bakshi won the Napa Valley Tennis Classic by finishing 3-0 in his group during pool play to advance to the tiebreaker shootout against eight players. Bakshi won the event by topping Texas A&M's Valetin Vacherot, 10-6, in the final. The sophomore knocked off Texas A&M's A.J. Cantazariti, 18-16, and Cal's J.T. Nishimura, 11-9, on his run to the title.

Earlier in the day, Bakshi claimed his third singles win of the event as USC's Thibault Forget retired in the second set. Bakshi led 6-2 before Forget removed himself from the match.

OU also picked up wins from Jochen Bertsch as he topped USTA junior Andrew Dale, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, while Stefano Tsortiotis defeated Ben Gollin, 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (3) to wrap up play in Napa Valley, Calif.

The Napa Valley Tennis Classic featured 24 college players and eight USTA juniors. The format consisted of eight groups of four players (three college players and one junior) who played round-robin, one match per day.

Calvo completed a 5-0 weekend by topping Texas' Colin Markes, 6-4, 6-4, in the singles final at the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational in Midland, Texas. Calvo, the NJCAA 2015 singles champion, won all five of his matches in straight sets during the three-day tournament in his OU debut.

The junior advanced to the final with a 6-3, 6-4 win over UTSA's Guarnarteme Nuez, 6-3, 6-4, on Saturday.

The Sooners continue their fall slate next weekend as OU will send players to Alabama Four-In-The-Fall, the Tiburon Challenger and the Fountain Valley Future Pros.