MIDDLETOWN, Conn.— Senior Alexander Merson (Palisades Park, N.J.) and sophomore Sebastian Mendoza (Weston, Fla.) were winners in both singles and doubles as Babson College edged Wesleyan University, 4-3, in the men's tennis season opener Friday afternoon at the John Wood Memorial Tennis Courts.
 
With the win, Babson starts the season at 1-0 while Wesleyan is off to an 0-1 start. The Beavers finished last season ranked 11th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings while Wesleyan was 24th in the ITA final rankings.
 
Mendoza and first-year Rishi Batlanki (Monroe Township, N.J.) posted a 7-5 victory at number one doubles over seniors Max Litton (Columbia, Mo.) and Harry Collomb (Wellesley, Mass.). Merson and first-year Max Lidman (Stockholm, Sweden) were 6-4 winners over first-years Chase Burke (Denver, Colo.) and Thomas Jani (South Hamilton, Mass.) at number two, and Wang and first-year Maxim Zlobinsky (Greenvale, N.Y.) gave the Beavers the doubles sweep with a 6-3 decision over senior Chase Kasday (Las Vegas, Nev.) and first-year Nicholas Hermes (West Hartford, Conn.) at number three.
 
Sophomore Edward Wang (Burr Ridge, Ill.) took the number one singles match over Collomb, 6-1, 6-1. Merson won in straight sets over first-year Ryuto Saito (Japan) at number two, 6-3, 6-3; and the Beavers clinched the team win with Mendoza's 7-6, 6-4 triumph over Kasday at number four.
 
Wesleyan got victories from senior Tai MacDonald (San Diego, Calif.) at number three singles over Batlanki, 3-6, 7-6, 12-10; Jani at number five over Zlobinsky, 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 10-8; and Litton at number six over graduate student Ryan Patrick (Darien, Conn.), 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
 
The Beavers will be in action on Saturday with a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) dual match at Salve Regina at 10 a.m. as well as competing in the Holy Cross Invitational on both Saturday and Sunday. Wesleyan will head to the MIT Invitational next weekend in Cambridge.