Nov. 13, 2004

Day 1 of the Northwestern Mutual, Wright Financial Group Inc. USTA Challenger presented by JSM Management at Illinois' Atkins Tennis Center is complete. After a busy day of qualifying singles play, both current and former Illinois players had strong showings.

"Today was one of the better days of qualifying matches we have had at the challenger," said Illinois head coach and tournament director Craig Tiley. "It was particularly good because we have three Illinois players (current and former) competing for a spot for the main draw tomorrow and we have never had that before."

Recent graduates, Michael Calkins and Phil Stolt moved on to the qualifying round and will face off on Sunday for a spot in the main draw. Current Illini Chris Martin also reached the qualifying round and will meet No. 2 seed, Ramon Delgado for a main draw birth. Other Illini competing in qualifying include GD Jones, Brandon Davis, Evan Zeder, Andrew Eklov, and Jamal Parker.

"I was really proud of Chris today," said Tiley of Chris Martin's play at the event. "He picked up his game and played extremely well to beat two good players."

Sunday's matches have been pushed back and will begin at 11:00 AM. Admission to Sunday's qualifying matches is free. Also, qualifying doubles matches are to be determined and will follow singles play.

All results for day 1 can be found on www. illinoischallenger.com

1st Rd. Qualifying
Michael Calkins (USA) def. Alexsander Hartman (SWE)    7-5, 4-6, 7-5
Chris Martin (USA) def. Hamid Mirzadeh (USA)           7-6 (5), 6-4
Phil Stolt (USA) def. Marcio Torres (BRA)              6-3, 6-4
Jamal Parker (USA) def. GD Jones (NZL)                 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (3)
Devin Mullings (BAH) def. Evan Zeder (USA)             6-3, 6-4
Henry Adjei-Darko (USA) def. Andrew Eklov (USA)        6-4, 6-4
Brandon Davis (USA) def. Bjorn Munroe (BAH)            6-3, 7-6 (2)

2nd Rd. Qualifying
Michael Calkins (USA) def. Erik Butorac                6-4, 6-0
Chris Martin (USA) def. Eric Nunez (USA)               6-4, 4-6, 7-5
Phil Stolt (USA) def. Henry Adjei-Darko (USA)          4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Jose DeArmas (VEN) def. Brandon Davis                  7-5, 6-1
Francisco Rodriguez (PAR) def. Jamal Parker (USA)      7-6 (3), 6-3