MADISON — Aquinas High School senior Anderson Fortney encountered little trouble during the first day of his of the WIAA individual state tennis tournament in Madison on Thursday.
Fortney (32-3), the 10th seed in the Division 1 singles bracket, won twice in straight sets to advance to a Friday third-round match against Whitefish Bay freshman Grant Schaefer (24-7) at 10:45 a.m. Friday.
Fortney is playing in his fourth individual state tournament — he also helped the Blugolds qualify for team state three times — and placed third in the Division 2 singles bracket in each of the past two seasons.
Fortney opened his tournament with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Monona Grove senior Nathaniel Posset (18-9) and followed that with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Appleton West junior Cale Vogel (23-4).
That matches him up with Schaefer, who is seeded seventh won in straight sets in the secnd round after a bye in the first. Winners in the third round qualify for quarterfinal matches Friday afternoon.
Three local doubles teams kicked off their Division 1 bracket but only one was able to advance to the second round.
Logan’s team of senior Finnian Clark and freshman Mitchell Jarrett (13-4) pulled out a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Amery’s Sean Evenson and Alex Lester to advance to a second-round match against The Prairie School’s seventh-seeded Jonathan Orth and Musa Rahman (16-5) at 12:30 p.m. Friday.
Aquinas juniors Jaedan Silcox and Tegan Schott (17-4) lost to Madison West’s Grant Shadman and Brandon Royalty (15-3) 6-0, 2-6, 10-8.
Central’s qualifying team of junior Drake Wonderling and sophomore Mitchell Lund (18-4) were also stopped in the first round by the 14th-seeded team of Andrew Werner and Brady Lawatsch (22-10). Werner and Lawatsch advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win.
Singles players Brandon McCormick of Holmen and Jesse Miller of West Salem also competed on Thursday.
McCormick (16-6) dropped a 76 (5), 6-1 match to West De Pere freshman Liam Hankel (33-1) in the Division 1 bracket, and Miller (11-5) was beaten 6-0, 6-0 by Lakeland senior Dominic Gironella (28-6) in their Division 2 first-round matchup.
West Salem senior Kyle Hehli (23-2) did not play Thursday after receiving a first-round bye. He faces Shorewood sophomore Nolan Johnson (7-10) in a second-round match at noon on Friday and plays another match Friday afternoon if he wins that one.
