Oct. 23, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Wildcats young and old won on the first day of competition at the Michigan State-run ITA Midwest Championships.
Senior Ahmed Wahla (Lahore, Pakistan/Lahore American School) breezed by Cleveland State's Eric Winn 6-2, 6-2 in qualifying singles. Wahla will face DePaul's Robert Kotroczo on Friday.
On the flip side, freshman Matt Christian (Troy, Mich./Brother Rice), a No. 9 seed, edged Wisconsin's Mark Weinig 7-6, 7-5 to set up a match with Michigan's Ryan Heller.
The other Wildcat ninth-seed, Willy Lock (Lima, Peru/Markham College), was not as fortunate as his teammates, as he lost to DePaul's George Wang 6-3, 6-4.
The rest of the qualifying singles will be played out on Friday, with eight winners advancing to the singles main draw, which starts Saturday.