Nov. 14, 2004

Madison, Wis. - Illinois enjoyed another strong showing on Sunday as they won four of their five matches on the day and will have two playing tomorrow at the Big Ten Singles Championship hosted by the University of Wisconsin. Junior Pramod Dabir and freshman Ruben Gonzales each won two consolation matches today and advanced to semifinals, while freshman Monte Tucker lost his round of 16 match-up in the main draw to end his tournament run.

Dabir, the 10th seed, showed improvement from his disappointing Saturday match in beating Adam Monich of Michigan State this morning, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5). In the quarterfinals of the first round consolation he ran into Dmytro Ishtuganov of Indiana this afternoon and shut him down 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals of the first round consolation against Nick Rinks of Michigan State.

"Dabir still needs to play more aggressive. He didn't return as well as he would have liked on the serve, but has a big challenge tomorrow and will need to swing out more on his return and play more aggressive." said Illinois Associate head coach Brad Dancer.

Gonzales had a close call in his first match of the day against Joe McWilliams of Michigan State as both sets went to tie-breakers with Illini freshman coming through 7-6 (3), 7-6 (4). Gonzales, who is in the second round consolation bracket moved into the quarterfinals to take on another Spartan in Brian Compton. The freshman put together one of the better performances of his young career in finishing Compton 6-1, 6-0. Gonzales will now face the 16th seed from Minnesota, Andres Osorio.

"Despite the wins today, Ruben isn't playing as well as he can," said Dancer. "He did pretty well with attacking on his serve, but isn't hitting his ground stroke like he should and needs to do that if he wants to win tomorrow."

Meanwhile in the main draw, the Illini had one more opportunity to make some noise, but fell short on Sunday morning. The 11th seeded Tucker, matched up with Northwestern's No. 1 player and eight seeded Tommy Hanus, played a great match, but lost in a tight one 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

"Monte played a good match today," said Dancer. "He is showing a lot maturity for a freshman. If he can keep that up on a consistent basis, he will be a great player for Illinois."

Big Ten Singles Results
Tommy Hanus (N'western) def. No. 121 Monte Tucker (ILL); 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 68 Pramod Dabir (ILL) def. Adam Monich (MSU); 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(5)
No. 68 Pramod Dabir (ILL) def. D. Ishtuganov (IND); 6-2, 6-4
Ruben Gonzales (ILL) def. Joe McWilliams (MSU); 7-6 (3), 7-6(4)
Ruben Gonzales (ILL) def. Brian Compton (MSU); 6-1, 6-0