July 31, 2008

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A plethora of former and current Illinois tennis players have advanced in the USA F20 Futures event in Decatur, Ill. Two current and two former players have all moved on to the next round.

Former Illini G.D. Jones, the No. 8 seed, cruised into the second round with a three set victory over Jeff Dadamo (USA). The Auckland, New Zealand native, took the first set, 6-2, then dropped the second set 4-6, before coming back to take the match with an impressive 6-3 final set.

Recent Illini grad Ryan Rowe advanced to the second round with a straight sets victory over Ryan Young (USA), 6-4, 6-2. Rowe will face the No. 6 seed Yaoki Ishii of Japan in the next round.

Roy Kalmanovich, who will begin his sophomore year with the Illini in the fall, knocked off the higher ranked Antonio Ruiz-Rosales in three sets to move on to the next round, where he will face Yuichi Ito (JPN), the tournament's No. 3 seed.

In the doubles draw, redshirt-freshman Marek Czerwinski along with partner Sean Ragee-Nelson battled their way through three sets to advance to the quarterfinals. The tandem dropped the first set 2-6, before rallying 7-6 (3) in the second and then dominating the third set 10-3 over the duo of Patrick Frandji (USA) and Nicolas Santoas (BRA). Czerwinski and Ragee-Nelson will face the No. 3 seeded duo of Tigran Martirosyan (ARM) and Daniel Yoo (KOR).

For continued results and recaps of former and current Illinois tennis players on the professional tour, visit fightingillini.com or atptennis.com for more information throughout the summer months.