Oct. 14, 2011
COLUMBUS, Ohio -
Jusso Ojanen won the final qualifying match in the ITA Regional Tournament at the Stickney Tennis Center on Friday. He continued to impress by winning his first match in the main draw, making him undefeated in the tournament.
The last round of qualifying matches began with Ojanen defeating Zeyad Montrasser of Northern Michigan, 6-3, 6-2 and Muddappa Appanervanda losing to Notre Dame's Dougie Barnard, 6-4, 7-5.
Head Coach Cris James was pleased with Ojanen's performance.
"I didn't know what to expect out of Jusso but I am very pleased with how he has been doing," said James. "Before he got to ISU he was out of match play for awhile due to an injury but he is getting more comfortable on the court now, which I feel is leading to his wins."
Despite the loss, James was impressed with Appanervanda's play.
"It was a good, high level match and I thought he played really well," said James. "It was just one of those matches that came down to a few points here and there but overall, I was pretty happy with how he played."
The main draw began with Ojanen continuing his winning streak, beating Alex Buzzi of Wisconsin, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. Alexander Pelaez defeated Michigan State's Gijs Linders, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 while Tuomas Manner lost to Hunter Callahan of Ohio State, 6-3, 6-2.
"Manner played a good player," said James. "He had some opportunities that he just didn't execute. He knows the things he has to work on and those were the things he had to have done better in his match in order to win."
Pelaez and Manner teamed in doubles action to beat Wisconsin's Austin Akers and Jack Larson, 8-3 while Skip Span and Jacob Wilson were defeated by Hunter Callahan and Nelson Vick of Ohio State.
Ojanen will take on Josh Graves of Northwestern in the second round of singles play in the main draw Saturday while Pelaez will take on Ohio State's Connor Smith. Play is set to begin at 8 a.m.
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