Oct. 23, 2004

Junior Ryler DeHeart and sophomore GD Jones both won two convincing matches today and advanced to the Round of 16 at the ITA Midwest Regionals in Ann Arbor, Mich. at Michigan's Varsity Tennis. DeHeart is now 9-1 on the season and Jones is 8-3, which are one and two for the Illini this season.

DeHeart, the second seed at the regional and 95th nationally, captured his first victory on the day with a win over host Michigan's Ryan Heller, 6-3, 6-3. In his second match, DeHeart made quick work of Big Ten rival Ohio State's Scott Green 6-1, 6-4 in the second round.

"In my first match I struggled at the start," said DeHeart. "I played better at the end of the first and began my second match with a really good first set. How I played in my second match is how I want to play the rest of the weekend."

Jones, the third seed and No. 111, was just as impressive on the day. Following the junior's lead, Jones toppled Wolverine Steve Peretz, 6-4, 6-2. Jones followed with a dominating first set in his second round match against Brent D'Amico winning the set 6-2. He closed the match with a 6-4 second set victory.

Four other Fighting Illini competed on the day as well. Both Chris Martin and Pramod Dabir were victorious in their first round matches but fell short in their attempt at the round of 16. Martin, ranked 50th nationally, dominated Purdue's Sounak Chatterjee, 6-0, 6-1 in his first match. After dropping the first set in his second match, Martin forced a third with a 6-2 second set win, but dropped the third to lose 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Dabir (No. 68) beat Bradley's Marko Marevic 7-5, 6-2 in the first round, but was outlasted in three sets by Jose Orozco of Western Michigan 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in the second round.

"The effort is there," said Illinois associate head coach Brad Dancer. "Overall we need to work on playing more consistent matches. Today in a couple of our matches we had control of the match but didn't take advantage."

Evan Zeder and Monte Tucker were also in action today for Illinois but dropped hard fought battles in the first round. Zeder took his match to three sets after falling behind one set to none before losing to Irackli Akhvlediana of Notre Dame, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. Tucker went a tie-breaker in the first set and forced a 12th game in the second but was unable to make the most of them and lost 7-6 (5), 7-5 to Adrien Debreyne of Minnesota.

DeHeart and Jones are Illinois' remaining representatives at the event and will compete in both singles and doubles tomorrow.

"We have to work on getting a better start in doubles," said DeHeart on the strategy for tomorrow. "We also need to work on having more energy and making a statement early in the tournament."

DeHeart will square off against Willy Gail of Northern Illinois and Jones will battle Ohio State's Chris Klingemann, both starting at 9 a.m. est. Following singles play DeHeart and Jones will meet Bradley's pair of Matt Metully and Alex Roby in doubles.

Main Draw Singles Results

tournament seed in parentheses
No. 95 (2) Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. Ryan Heller (MICH)       6-3, 6-3
No. 95 (2) Ryler DeHeart (ILL) def. Scott Green (OSU)        6-1, 6-4
No. 111 (3) GD Jones (ILL) def. Steve Peretz (MICH)          6-4, 6-2
No. 111 (3) GD Jones (ILL) def. Brent D'Amico (ND)           6-2, 6-4
No. 50 (6) Chris Martin (ILL) def. Sounak Chatterjee (PUR)   6-0, 6-1
Barry King (ND) def. No. 50 (6) Chris Martin (ILL)           6-2, 2-6, 6-2
No. 68 (8) Pramod Dabir (ILL) def. Marko Marevic (BRAD)      7-5, 6-2
Jose Orozco (W. MICH) def. No. 68 (8) Pramod Dabir (ILL)     6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3
Adrien Debreyne (MINN) def. No. 121 Monte Tucker (ILL)       7-6 (5), 7-5
Irackli Akhvlediana (ND) def. Evan Zeder (ILL)               6-1, 1-6, 6-3