ROSEMONT, Ill. – Fighting Illini freshman Gabriel Debru was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week by the conference office on Wednesday following his standout performances during Illinois' road matches in Los Angeles.
Debru has now secured Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season.
Across the Illini's matches at No. 24 UCLA and USC, Debru went 3-0, which included two ranked singles victories. He also now sits at a career-high No. 23 in the ITA singles rankings.
The Frenchman started the weekend with a straight-set singles victory over UCLA's No. 24 Emon van Loben Sels, 7-6(4), 7-6(3), on Court 2. He followed it up one day later with another ranked straight-set win, this time against USC's No. 64-ranked Nathan Trouve, 6-2, 7-5.
On the doubles courts, he teamed up with Tyler Bowers to take down UCLA's Andy Nguyen/Aadarsh Tripathi, 6-3, on Saturday.
This marks the fifth Big Ten Freshman of the Week distinction for an Illini this season, with Debru and Adam Jilly both winning twice and Sasha Colleu securing the status on Jan. 21.
No. 15 Illinois (20-6, 9-3 B1G) returns to Atkins Tennis Center on Saturday for its final match of the regular season. The Illini will host Northwestern for Senior Day, with first serve slated for 12 p.m. CT.
