Oct. 16, 2009
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -
Singles Main Draw in PDF Format 
Doubles Main Draw in PDF Format
The Illinois State men’s tennis team had mixed results in Friday’s competition at the Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships. Seven Redbirds played in the first round of main draw singles but none were able to come away with a win. However, three doubles teams, including the duo of Micah LeMoine and Xavier Riart-Ferrer, bounced back and were able to keep the team’s hopes alive.
In early play, four out of five Redbirds were able to advance into the main draw by winning their third-round qualifying matches. Michael Hobson defeated Michigan State’s Will Davis, 7-5, 7-5. Matej Zlatkovic beat John Haley of Cleveland State, 6-5, 6-1. Skip Span squared off against DePaul’s Mathias Hambach and won, 7-5, 7-5. LeMoine downed Matt Clegg of Wisconsin – Green Bay in three sets, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2.
In the first round of the main draw ISU was not as successful. The tougher competition was too much as all four of the Redbirds who advanced out of the qualifying draw suffered losses. Filip Miljevic, Alexander Pelaez and Timon Reichelt all received automatic bids into the main draw. However, they all fell to tough opponents.
Despite the losses, head coach Cris James believes his players will learn something from Friday’s matches.
“We did a great job in the last round of qualifying and I’m very happy with those results,” James said. “In the main draw we didn’t do as well. We missed some opportunities to beat some good players. We fought hard and we still have some things to learn and to capitalize on. Overall, when we play better players they are going to give us fewer opportunities during the match. We have to be able to take advantage of those chances.”
Miljevic fell, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, to Notre Dame’s Casey Watt, who is the tournament’s ninth ranked player. Reichelt squared off against tenth ranked Shuhei Uzawa of Ohio State and lost in three sets, 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-0. Pelaez lost a tough match to Western Michigan’s Kazuya Komada, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-3. The match was only the fifth for the young Redbird, who is still adjusting to collegiate play.
“It was disappointing for Alex to not get the win,” James said. “He has all the talent, he just needs to get some matches under his belt and get that experience.”
ISU rebounded in doubles play on Friday night. LeMoine and Riart-Ferrer cruised past Indiana – Purdue Fort Wayne’s Junya Saruta and Francisco Sigaud, 8-3. Reichelt and Zlatkovic advanced on a walkover. The duos of Miljevic and Pelaez, and Hobson and Span completed the Redbird’s undefeated doubles play with wins.
“We’re getting better in doubles,” James said. “We played against some good teams and had some good performances out of our guys.”
The team will continue singles play in Saturday’s consolation matches which are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Second-round doubles action will kick off in the afternoon at Michigan’s Varsity Tennis Center. Follow the Redbirds in Saturday’s play with live stats and video by following the link below.
Live STATS & VIDEO – ITA Midwest Regionals
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