Antonioni Fasano Wins Big Ten Singles Title

10/31/2017 4:33:00 PM | Men's Tennis

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Northwestern first year Antonioni Fasano claimed his first collegiate tournament victory on Monday, winning the singles title at the Big Ten Singles and Doubles Tournament at Michigan State.

In a field of 44 Big Ten student-athletes, Fasano won five matches to claim the singles title. He won three of those matches in three sets including in the finals against Ohio State's Mati Mendez, winning 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to complete his five-match sweep that began on Friday.

Fasano beat Riley Reist (Ohio State), Jonas Larsen (Iowa), and Joey Thomas (Ohio State) to advance to the semifinals, where he faced off against his teammate, first year Nick Brookes.

Brookes won three matches to reach the semifinals, including an all-Northwestern quarterfinals matchup against sophomore Chris Ephron. Fasano beat Brookes in straight sets to advance to the championship match.

This is the second straight year a Northwestern first year has won the Big Ten singles championship, with Dominik Starý winning the title last season.

Fasano and Brookes also made waves in the tournament as a doubles pairing. The first years won two matches to advance to the semifinals of the doubles bracket before falling to Piotr Smietana and Will Davies (Iowa), in a very close match, 8-7 (6).

The 2018 regular season begins Jan. 18 as the Wildcats play host to North Carolina State.