Oct. 22, 2010

Singles | Doubles

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Three Illini claimed victories in the opening round of main-draw action Friday at the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships hosted by Notre Dame. Seniors Abe Souza and Connor Roth and junior Dennis Nevolo each collected first-round wins, while in doubles, the 21st-ranked team of Nevolo and Souza advanced to the second round.

Five Illini in all earned automatic bids into the main draw, with ninth-seeded Souza topping Sam Keeton (Notre Dame), 6-3, 6-4, while Roth defeated Dan Mamalat (Marquette), 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, and fourth-seeded Nevolo downed Knot Likitkumchorn (Toledo), 6-3, 6-4. Also competing for the Illini was sophomore Bruno Abdelnour, who fell to 15th-seeded Matt Allare (Ohio State), 6-3, 6-0, and classmate Stephen Hoh, who was edged by 11th-seeded Daniel Stahl (Notre Dame), 6-3, 6-7 (11), 6-4.

In doubles action, the seventh-seeded tandem of Souza and Nevolo defeated Ben Hartman and Mathias Hambach (DePaul), 8-5, while the third-seeded team of Roth and Hoh fell to Bartosz Jozwiak and Sven Kasper (DePaul), 9-8 (4).

Singles and doubles play continues on Saturday. The tournament, which runs Oct. 21-25, features players from Cleveland State, DePaul, Detroit, Eastern Illinois, Green Bay, Illinois State, IPFW, Marquette, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Northern Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Toledo, UIC, Valparaiso, Western Michigan, Wisconsin and Youngstown State.