Several local tennis standouts, including three who claimed section championships earlier this week, will begin their quest for WPIAL gold Thursday.
Leading the way will be a pair of Sewickley Academy teammates who played each other for the Section 4-2A championship. Arjen Bedi defeated fellow Panther Nishant Purewal, 6-2, 6-1, to win the section title Tuesday at Nichols Field, and both will be in action Thursday.
Bedi will take on Durke Martin of Riverside in his opening round match, while Purewal faces Aiden Perez of Beaver. Perez and Martin finished third and fourth, respectively, in Section 2-2A.
Also winning a section title earlier this week was Blackhawk senior Drew Rodenbeck, who defeated sophomore Dan Tanaskovic of Central Valley in the Section 2-2A title match, 6-2, 6-2, at Pearson Park in Neshannock Township.
Rodenbeck will open the WPIAL tournament against sophomore Michael Odrey of Valley, the third-place finisher in Section 3-2A, with the winner to face the winner of the Purewel-Perez match in the quarterfinals.
Tanaskovic will also be back in action Thursday, facing Devin Stolar of South Park in the first round. Stolar was the third-place finisher in Section 1-2A.
First-round play begins at noon at Shady Side Academy. Finals and consolation finals will be played Friday beginning at 2 p.m. at the Alpha Tennis Center in Harmar.
In Class 3A, Moon’s Logan D’Angelo won the Section 2 title Tuesday at North Allegheny, beating Ivan Voinov of North Allegheny, 6-3, 6-0 in the title match.
D’Angelo opens play in the WPIAL Class 3A tournament Thursday against Logan Cutts of Canon McMillan at North Allegheny. Cutts was the third-place finisher in Section 4.