HOMEWOOD, Ala. — Christian Kuehne picked up a pair of dominant straight-set victories to highlight a strong opening day for the Stetson men's tennis team Friday at the Samford Invite.

The Hatters collected four singles victories on the opening day of competition, with Kuehne accounting for two of them while Gian Durrer and Lukas Janousek each added wins.

Kuehne opened his weekend against College of Charleston's Jacob Rouleau-Mailly and quickly took control, earning a 6-3, 6-0 victory. Rouleau-Mailly joined the Cougars this season after previous stops at New Orleans and Northern Kentucky. 

Kuehne was even more commanding in his second match of the day against Southern Miss' Matei Varbanciu. The Stetson veteran surrendered just two games in the match, rolling to a 6-1, 6-1 victory to finish the opening day with a perfect 2-0 record without dropping a set. Varbanciu is a sophomore from Romania for the Golden Eagles.

Durrer also turned in an impressive straight-set performance for the Hatters, defeating Tennessee Tech's Murilo Burckhardt 6-4, 6-0. After working his way through a competitive opening set, Durrer shut the door with a clean second set to earn his first victory of the weekend.

Janousek split his two matches Friday. He opened against Louisiana's Samuel Kyjaci in one of Stetson's longest battles of the day. Janousek responded to a 6-4 opening-set loss by taking the second set 6-4, but Kyjaci answered in the deciding set to earn a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory.

Janousek bounced back in his second appearance, defeating Jacksonville State's Zachary Murphy in straight sets. He controlled the match from the start and secured a 6-2, 6-3 victory to finish his opening day on a high note.

Alexandre Bergeron was involved in another tightly contested match against Louisiana senior William Ribero. Neither player gave much ground in the opening set, which eventually went to a tiebreak before Ribero took it. Bergeron continued to battle in the second, but Ribero ultimately earned the 7-6, 7-5 victory. Ribero, a native of Bucaramanga, Colombia, is in his fourth season with the Ragin' Cajuns. 

Bergeron's second scheduled match against North Alabama's Jip Langenhuizen ended via walkover.

The opening day continued a productive stretch of fall tennis for Stetson following appearances at the Bedford Cup and ITA Southeast Regional Championships earlier this month. Kuehne's two victories Friday came less than a week after he also earned a straight-set win over Georgia Tech's Jonathan Irwanto at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships.

Stetson will return to the court Saturday for the second day of competition before the Samford Invite concludes Sunday in Homewood.