Illini Advance In Big Ten Singles Competition
November 10, 2001 | Men's Tennis
Nov. 10, 2001
Three members of the University of Illinois men's tennis team represented their squad well on the first day of play at the Big Ten Singles Tournament held at Michigan State University. Two of them have moved on to the Round of 16, which will take place starting Sunday morning in East Lansing.
Senior Jamal Parker, a late substitute for fifth-seeded UI sophomore Brian Wilson (scheduling/travel conflict with an outside tournament), opened with a 6-3, 7-6 (12-10) victory over Purdue's Derek Miller, advanced to the second round and pulled out a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (2) win over Goran Topalo of Michigan State. He is scheduled to face Paul Warkentin of Ohio State Sunday morning at 9:30 in the Round of 16.
Sophomore Michael Calkins, the No. 6 seed, also posted two triumphs. He beat Josh Rubens of Penn State, 6-2, 6-4, and went on to defeat Kevin McLean of Ohio State, 6-0, 6-1. Calkins will take on Minnesota's Chris Wettengel in another 9:30 match tomorrow morning.
Chris Martin didn't fare quite so well. The freshman lost in the opening round to Avery Ticer of Minnesota, 6-3, 6-3, but rebounded to win his first match in the consolation round, a 6-4, 6-4 decision over Ari Widlanski of Indiana. Martin will return to the court tomorrow morning at 8 to face another Hoosier, Rahman Smiley.
"Overall it was a pretty good day for us," said UI Associate Head Coach Bruce Berque. "Michael Calkins played particularly well today, and he was fantastic in his match against the player from Ohio State. Hopefully he can keep his momentum going tomorrow.
"It was good to see Jamal pick up a couple of good singles wins," Berque continued. "He has played mostly doubles lately. He did an excellent job in winning both matches with tiebreakers. Those were clutch matches, we're pretty happy with his play, since he beat a couple of very good opponents.
"Chris didn't play well in his first match. He's been working on several aspects of his game, right now, and it took him awhile to get comfortable. He did come back with a strong effort in his second match of the day.
"All in all, I thought our players competed well," said Berque. "That was one of our goals. The other was to improve in later matches, and all three of the guys did that today."
The tournament runs through Monday at MSU.
Follow the Illini players' progress on www.fightingillini.com. Complete results from the Big Ten Singles Tournament are available at www.msuspartans.com.
