Box Score
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – No. 20 Illinois fell on the road to Purdue, 4-3, at Schwartz Tennis Center on Friday night.
The Fighting Illini won the doubles point and picked up singles wins at No. 2 and 6, but it was not enough as the Boilermakers stormed back to hand the Orange and Blue their first Big Ten loss of the season.
"Hats off to Purdue," said head coach
Brad Dancer. "No question they played with more courage tonight. They came after us in transition and deserved to win the match. Now, we need to recover, get refocused, and reset for Sunday."
For the third straight match, the Illini claimed the doubles point, using wins at No. 1 and 2 to take a 1-0 lead heading into singles play. At No. 2 doubles, William Mroz and Zach Viiala moved to 3-0 as a tandem with a 6-4 victory against Purdue's Daniel Labrador/Nour Fathalla. Mroz and Viiala broke in the first game, which ultimately proved to be the difference as both sides held serve the rest of the way.
Tyler Bowers and Kenta Miyoshi tallied their first triumph as a partnership at No. 1 doubles, defeating the Boilermakers' Aleksa Krivokapic/Maj Premzl, 7-6(4). Neither side found a way to break the other's serve, sending the match into a tiebreaker. With the score knotted at 4-4, the Illini duo won the next three points to seal their victory and the doubles point for the Orange and Blue.
Mathis Debru extended the Illini's advantage with a straight-set win over Mujtaba Ali-Khan at No. 6 singles. Recording breaks in the first and seventh games, Debru secured the opening frame, 6-2. With the second set tied at 2-2, Debru won the next four games, breaking twice to complete his 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Will Mroz was the next to finish, posting a two-set triumph of his own at No. 2 against Purdue's Stefan Simeunovic. With both sides holding through the first seven games, Mroz was the first to find a break in the eighth game and ultimately took the set, 6-3. In the second frame, the Illini redshirt junior broke in the ninth game before holding in the 10th for a 6-4 second-set decision, his third consecutive singles win.
The Boilermakers won the final four matches at No. 1, 3, 4, and 5 in their come-from-behind home victory.
Results: Purdue 4, No. 20 Illinois 3Â
Doubles
No. 1: Tyler Bowers/Kenta Miyoshi (Illinois) def. Aleksa Krivokapic/Maj Premzl (Purdue), 7-6(4)
No. 2: William Mroz/Zach Viiala (Illinois) def. Daniel Labrador/Nour Fathalla (Purdue), 6-4
No. 3: Mathis Debru/Jeremy Zhang (Illinois) vs. Mujtaba Ali-Khan/Stefan Simeunovic (Purdue), 5-5, unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1
Singles
No. 1: Aleksa Krivokapic (Purdue) def. No. 12 Kenta Miyoshi (Illinois), 1-6, 6-4, 6-1Â
No. 2: No. 48 William Mroz (Illinois) def. Stefan Simeunovic (Purdue), 6-3, 6-4
No. 3: Maj Premzl (Purdue) def. Jeremy Zhang (Illinois), 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
No. 4: Daniel Labrador (Purdue) def. Tyler Bowers (Illinois), 6-4, 6-4Â
No. 5: Nour Fathalla (Purdue) def. Zach Viiala (Illinois), 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-0Â
No. 6: Mathis Debru (Illinois) def. Mujtaba Ali-Khan (Purdue), 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 2, 1, 4, 5, 3
Next Up
No. 20 Illinois closes its two-match road trip against Indiana on Sunday afternoon. The Fighting Illini and the Hoosiers will square off at 1 p.m. CT at IU Tennis Center.
