TEMPE, Ariz. - Three Anteaters won their Round of 32 singles matches, including two against ranked opponents, to highlight Saturday's action at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships at Kiwanis Tennis Center.
 
Sophomore Andy Nguyen continued to roll with his second straight-set victory of the tournament. His Round of 32 win was a big one as he knocked out the No. 1 seed, Iiro Vasa of San Diego, with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph. In addition to being the top seed, Vasa is 52nd in the ITA National Rankings.
 
Senior Hiroki Sakagawa upset No. 96 Alexander Hoogmartens of UCLA in the Round of 32. Sakagawa took the momentum after winning a first-set tiebreaker to topple Hoogmartens, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. Senior Noah Zamora, who is ranked 121st in the nation, also won his match against LMU's Sebastian Nothhaft, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
 
Nguyen, Sakagawa and Zamora advance to tomorrow's Round of 16.
 
Saturday's matches began with two rounds of doubles. Andy Nguyen teamed up with Max Fardanesh to defeat UC Santa Barbara's Gianluca Brunkow/Gustav Thielgaard, 8-7 (7-0). They then lost to Roi Ginat/Finn Willwerth of Arizona State, 8-6, in the Round of 16.
 
UCI's 90th-ranked duo of Hiroki Sakagawa and Noah Zamora shut out Sean Ferguson/Jack McGary of Cal Poly, 8-0, before falling to Pepperdine's Linus Carlsson Halldin/Zach Stevens, 8-4.  
 
The 'Eaters came up just short in their other two Round of 32 doubles matches. Ruining Huang and Rithvik Krishna fell to Arizona State's Constantinos Koshis/Tanner Povey, 8-7 (10-8), while Sohrob Amiryavari and Lawee Sherif dropped an 8-7 (7-5) decision to Tristan Bradley/Karl Lee of USC.  
 
Krishna and Sherif both picked up a win in consolation singles.
 
UC Irvine resumes action in the ITA Southwest Regional Championships main draw Sunday morning.