LA JOLLA, Calif. - Freshman Ali Amiri and sophomore Antoine Barthe advanced to the Round of 16 to highlight the UC Irvine men's tennis team's first day of the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship at La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club.
 
Amiri and Barthe were one of four Anteater duos to win in the Round of 128. They started the day with a dominant 8-3 victory over Bryce Bonin/Eli Herran of Ball State. The UCI tandem then upended Corrado Summaria and Tim Zitvogel of 35th-ranked Pepperdine, 8-6, before outlasting San Diego State's Jules Auffray/Alex Scemanenco, 9-7, to stay alive in the main draw. Amiri/Barthe will square off against Ignacio Martinez/Rafael Gonzalez Almazan (SDSU) in the Round of 16 tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.
 
In their debut as a tandem, sophomore Mike Mkrtchian and freshman Matthew Sah went 2-1. They opened the tournament with an 8-5 victory, and dispatched Villanova's Justin Suarez/Stefan Suarez, 8-1, in the Round of 64. Mkrtchian/Sah then saw their run in the main draw come to an end with an 8-5 loss to Kent Hunter/Thomas Wright of Pac-12 member Cal.
 
Also in the Round of 128, senior Bruce Man-Son-Hing and junior Jeremy Merville topped Boston College's Mason Fung/Nicolas de Quesada, 8-4, while sophomore Aaron Bailey and senior Daniel Gealer defeated Luke Smith/Mark Wu of Washington University (St. Louis), 8-6. Both pairings would come up short against doubles teams from No. 1 USC in the Round of 64.
 
After dropping their first round match to No. 22 UCLA's Ben Goldberg/Max Wild, sophomore Mark Peneff and junior Mateusz Smolicki defeated UC San Diego's Zachary Ermert/Sahm Irvine, 8-4, to advance to tomorrow's fourth round in the back draw.
 
The 'Eaters are back in action at the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship Saturday, starting at 9 a.m.