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IOWA CITY, Iowa – The No. 2 seed Fighting Illini men's tennis team will play for the 2018 Big Ten Tournament title on Sunday after defeating the No. 3-seeded Michigan Wolverines, 4-1 on Saturday afternoon. The Illini improve to 21-6 overall this season.

Despite dropping the doubles point to Michigan for the second time this season, freshman Alex Brown put Illinois on the board with a dominating, 6-1, 6-0 win at the No. 3 position against Myles Schalet. Senior Aleks Vukic then defeated No. 15-ranked Alex Knight, 6-4, 7-5 on court one. At the No. 5 position, sophomore Aleks Kovacevic battled back from down 3-1 in the third set to win, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. For the second-straight match, it was sophomore Zeke Clark clinching the Illinois win on court four. Clark came back from down 4-1 in the first set to top Mattias Siimar, 7-6(2), 7-5.

Illinois will take on the No. 1 seed Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday at noon for the 2018 Big Ten Tournament title. The Illini and Buckeyes will meet for 15^th time in the Big Ten Tournament Finals.

Illini Notes

• The Illini improve to 53-11 at the Big Ten Tournament since 1996.
• Since 2001, the Illini and Buckeyes have met in the Big Ten Tournament Final match 15 times.
• Illinois has won 10 Big Ten Tournament titles (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2015).
• The Illini are 8-5 against ITA Top-25 opponents this season.
• Vukic is now tied for No. 11 on the Illinois Career Singles Wins list with a 107, tying Mike Kosta's 107 career singles wins from 1998-2002.
  • Vukic improves to 8-1 in Big Ten Tournament singles matches.
• The Illini are 17-0 when winning at the No. 5 position.
• Clark extended his singles winning streak to 11 matches.
  • Clark clinched his second-straight Illinois match victory.
• Brown moved his singles winning streak to nine matches.
• Kovacevic has won nine-straight singles matches.  

Final Results

#8 Illinois 4, #13 Michigan 1

Doubles-Order of Finish: 1, 3*

1. Johnston/Schalet (Michigan) def. Brown/Chakravarthi (Illinois) 6-3
2. Clark/Kovacevic (Illinois) vs. #72 Siimar/Hua (Michigan) 4-5, unf.
3. Brown/Knight (Michigan) def. Budic/Vukic (Illinois) 7-5

Singles-Order of Finish: 3, 1, 5, 4*

1. #16 Aleks Vukic (Illinois) def. #15 Alex Knight (Michigan) 6-4, 7-5
2. Aron Hiltzik (Illinois) vs. #47 Runhau Hau (Michigan) 7-5, 4-6, 0-1, unf.
3. #83 Alex Brown (Illinois) def. Myles Schalet (Michigan) 6-1, 6-0
4. Zeke Clark (Illinois) def. Mattias Siimar (Michigan) 7-6(2), 7-5
5. Aleks Kovacevic (Illinois) def. Carter Lin (Michigan) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
6. Caleb Chakravarthi (Illinois) vs. Davis Crocker (Michigan) 7-5, 3-5, unf.

Records: Illinois (21-6) | Michigan (20-5)

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