MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- Sophomore Alexander Gujarathi and junior Teddy Koide both recorded singles victories Saturday as the Bates men's tennis team opened the 2021-22 season at the Middlebury Invitational, a seven-team tournament featuring four bracket-style flights in singles and two in doubles.

Competing in the A Singles Flight, Gujarathi (Plymouth, Mass.) scored a 6-4, 6-4 first-round victory over Middlebury's Aidan Harris. Gujarathi advanced to the quarterfinal round later in the day, where he fell to second-seeded Isaac Gorelick of Tufts in a spirited battle, 6-0, 4-6, 10-8.

Koide (Morristown, N.J.) outlasted RPI's Jonathan McMillan in a first-round match in the C Singles Flight, prevailing 6-4, 5-7, 10-7. Koide then bowed out of the flight by a 7-5, 6-2 decision against Skidmore's Noah Williamson.

Also competing for the Bobcats Saturday were junior Nick Forester (Falmouth, Maine) in A Singles; sophomore Matthew Danielson (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and first-year Elijah Criss (Winchester, Mass.) in B Singles; sophomore Nikesh Desai (Hopkinton, Mass.) and junior Liam Dun (Hopewell, N.J.) in C Singles; sophomore Alexander Archer (Austin, Texas), first-year Ramiro Davila (Orlando, Fla.), and first-year Paul Zhou in D Singles; Koide/Gujarathi and Forester/Desai in A Doubles; and Criss/Danielson and Davila/Archer in B Doubles.

Bates will compete at the ITA New England Championships Sept. 24-26 at Bowdoin.