URBANA, Ill. – No. 14 Illinois advanced to the second round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship with a 4-0 victory over Yale on Friday night at Atkins Tennis Center.

The Orange and Blue claimed the doubles point before securing singles wins on Courts 1, 2, and 4 to seal the victory. 

The Fighting Illini took control fast, cruising to win the doubles point. The duo of freshman Gabriel Debru and senior Kenta Miyoshi took care of business against Vignesh Gogineni and Edward Liao of Yale in a 6-2 victory. Seconds later, Tyler Bowers and William Mroz wrapped up the doubles point with a 6-1 win over Eric Li and Ethan Chung. 

Momentum shifted as the Illini entered singles play. Yale jumped out to an early advantage after winning four of six first sets. The Orange and Blue battled and bounced back in the second set, though, winning five out of six. Freshman Adam Jilly was the first to strike, defeating the Bulldogs' Li, 6-2, 6-3, on Court 4. Miyoshi followed it up by defeating Liao by a 6-3, 7-5 margin to put the Illini a point away from victory. 

It was the freshman Debru who sealed the deal. Debru went behind early, losing the first set and suffering a minor injury. Battling back, Debru cruised to a second-set win and closed it out with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 24-ranked Gogineni. 

Illinois will now play in the second round for the second time in three years, with a chance to advance to the Round of 16 for the first time since 2021.

RESULTS

Doubles
No. 1: Gabriel Debru/Kenta Miyoshi (Illinois) def. Vignesh Gogineni/Edward Liao (Yale), 6-2
No. 2: Tyler Bowers/William Mroz (Illinois) def. Jason Shuler/Dylan Tsoi (Yale), 6-1
No. 3: David Bakonyi/Adam Jilly (Illinois) vs. Eric Li/Ethan Chung (Yale), 3-3, unfinished

Order of finish: 1, 2 

Singles
No. 1: #18 Gabriel Debru (Illinois) def. #24 Vignesh Gogineni (Yale), 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
No. 2: #16 Kenta Miyoshi (Illinois) def. Edward Liao (Yale), 6-3, 7-5
No. 3: #96 William Mroz (Illinois) vs. Jason Shuler (Yale), 6-7 (5-7), 5-4, unfinished 
No. 4: Adam Jilly (Illinois) def. Eric Li (Yale), 6-2, 6-3
No. 5: Hayden Jones (Illinois) vs. Jim Ji (Yale), 4-6, 6-3, 1-4, unfinished
No. 6: Jeremy Zhang (Illinois) vs. Dylan Tsoi (Yale), 1-6, 6-4, 2-2, unfinished

Order of finish: 4, 2, 1

UP NEXT

No. 14 Illinois (23-7) continues its NCAA Tournament run with a second-round matchup against No. 24-ranked Vanderbilt at Atkins Tennis Center on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT. Tickets are available for purchase online at FightingIllini.com or at the door.