July 11, 2007

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois men's tennis team, coming off a stellar NCAA runner-up performance in 2007, has wasted little time in returning to match play as various Fighting Illini are participating in Challengers and Futures events across the United States this summer. Leading the charge is junior Kevin Anderson, who recently made his third finals appearance of the hard court season at the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship in Winnetka, Ill., last weekend.

Anderson's success has rocketed the Illini junior to his highest ranking of his career at No. 310 in the World and the fourth highest ranked South African player on the tour. Behind the successes of former Illini No. 60 Amer Delic, 2003 NCAA singles champion, No. 175 Rajeev Ram and No. 325 Brian Wilson, who has been ranked as high as 265th, Anderson has become the fourth highest ranked current or former Illini on the professional tour and the highest ranked collegiate player in the country.

In his most recent tournament at the Winnetka Challenger, Anderson began his battle in the qualifying bracket, winning three straight matches without dropping a set as the qualifying draw's second seed. From there, Anderson worked his way through steep competition, defeating Izak Van Der Merwe of South Africa (7-6(4), 6-3), who is ranked No. 416, before downing No. 163 Alex Kuznetsov of the United States (6-2, 6-4) in the second round.

The win set up his fourth meeting with American No. 367 Scoville Jenkins in the quarterfinals. Finding very little resistance from the young American in a 6-4, 6-4 victory, the South African native headed into the semifinals to face No. 316 Todd Widom of the United States, who was fresh off an upset over No. 95 Paul Goldstein in the quarters. After a grueling second set against the American, Anderson pocketed his seventh straight-sets victory at the Winnetka Challenger, besting Widom 6-3, 7-6(7). However, Anderson's run came to a hault in the finals at the hands of Noam Okun of Israel, who took the championships bout, 6-4, 6-3.

Anderson has so far claimed one title on the year when he broke through the field at the 2007 Trius Technologies 15,000 USA F13 Futures event in Sacramento, Calif., capturing his first American Futures title of his career.

Also making appearances on the Challenger and Futures circuits for the Illini is former Orange and Blue netter Ryler DeHeart, who is currently seeded second at the USA Futures 18 in Peoria, Ill., being hosted July 9-17, while junior Ruben Gonzales was a main draw participant in Peoria as well. DeHeart remains alive in the 64-player field and will face No. 857 Troy Hahn of the United States in the opening round on Wednesday, July 11.

Also making an appearance in the qualifying draw in Peoria were juniors Ryan Rowe and Brandon Davis, as well as freshman Billy Heiser, who all came up short of advancing into the main draw despite strong first- and second-round efforts.

For continued recaps of the Illini and their summer hard court results, visit www.fightingillini.com for the remainder of the year.