CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Another day has come and gone at the ITA Midwest Regionals for the Illinois State men's tennis team. The 'Birds would see Arvid Hjalte compete in the qualifying round of 16 as well as doubles action getting underway from the campus of the University of Illinois.
"We had another pretty successful day in singles. Arvid played great this morning and advancing to the main draw tomorrow," ISU head coach Mark Klysner said. "Emiliano, Adrian, and Dominick played back draw matches and all three came out with victories which is always nice to end their singles portion of the tourney."
Hjalte would be in action, after going 2-0 on Thursday, against the eleventh-seed, Toledo's Adam Kovac, for a chance to advance into the men's singles main draw on Saturday. Well, lady luck was on his side once more, as Hjalte would pull out the 6-3, 7-5 victory including winning three straight games in set two to clinch the match.
Hjalte moves on to Saturday's main draw and will face Christopher Norlin of NIU. He joins fellow Redbird, Nam Pham, in Saturday's main draw action after Pham received an automatic bid and bypassed all qualifying rounds.
ISU also saw a trio of back-end singles matches take place, all three with a Redbird victory. Dominick Cuchran would defeat Wisconsin's Schwartz; Emiliano Gonzales defeated Meluta from Toledo; and Adrian Dibildox would beat Eastern Illinois's Wallace.
As for doubles, the 'Birds would see the pairings of Emiliano Gonzales/Nam Pham and Arvid Hjalte/Adrian Dibilidox in action. Gonzales and Pham would face Luke Baylis and David Saye of Michigan State while Hjalte and Diblidox faced Arjun Honnappa and Anton Arzhankin from Western Michigan.
"Doubles didn't go our way and that's not a big surprise to me as we are really just trying different pairings and trying to get an idea of who should play with who," Klysner said. "We've got a lot of work left in that area but it'll come."
It would the Spartans taking the 8-2 win over Pham/Gonzales and advancing to the next round. As for Hjalte and Dibildox, they would fight for every point but would ultimately fall by a final of 8-6. The final double pairing in action was Melker Isaksson and Dominick Cuchran, who would fall 8-2 to DePaul's Marino Jakic and Aleksa Krivokapic.
"Now we look forward to tomorrow and see if Nam and Arvid can come up with some upsets as both guys are playing the #10 and #5 seeds, respectfully," Klysner said. "Should be a great test for each guy."
Action will resume from Champaign on Saturday with round of 64 main draw – singles at 9 a.m.
RESULTS
Qualifying Round Singles:
•   Arvid Hjalte (ISU) def. Adam Kovac (TOL) 6-3, 7-5
Consolation Singles:
•   Dominick Cuchran (ISU) def. Schwartz (WIS) 6-1, 3-6, 1-0Â
•   Emiliano Gonzales (ISU) def. Meluta (TOL) 6-1, 6-4
•   Adrian Dibildox (ISU) def. Thomas Wallace (EIU) 4-6, 6-1 1-0
Doubles:
•   Baylis/Saye (MSU) def. Gonzales/Pham (ISU) 8-2
•   Honnappa/Arzhankin (WMU) def. Hjalte/Dibildox (ISU) 8-6
•   Kivopkapic/Jakic (DePaul) def. Cuchran/Isaksson (ISU) 8-2
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