It was a great day to be wearing Orange and Blue as the only members of the University of Illinois to not advance were those beaten by former Fighting Illini at the JSM Illinois Challenger.
Amer Delic’s comeback has been heard loud and clear. On Day three, he upset the top seed and he followed it up with a solid win over the University of Southern California’s Steve Johnson. It was a tight match, with short points and lots of aces, as neither player was broken during either set. The first would finish in the former Illini’s favor with a 7/5 breaker win. In the second set, Delic did have a match point at 5-4 – the longest game of the match with four deuces – but Johnson regained control and that too headed into a tiebreaker. It was a much easier one for Delic to pick up and he was on to the semifinals with a 7/1 win.
In the evening, Amer Delic was back on the court with partner Bobby Reynolds for another win, albeit a strange one. Two more former Illini faced the duo from the other side of the court, Marek Czerwinski (above) and Ryan Rowe. The first set was a terrific display of doubles from four o the event’s best. It finished with a 6-4 win to Delic and Reynolds. The second set was much more one-sided with Czerwinski and Rowe only giving up one game at 5-0 before claiming the set. The match tiebreaker got back to top doubles, though, and a mini-break for 8-6 led Delic and Reynolds to a 10/8 win.
Ryler DeHeart also claimed one on the homecourt, winning in doubles with partner Pierre-Ludovic Duclos, setting up a meeting with Delic and Reynolds. Raven Klaasen and Izak Van der Merwe were also victorious and they will play current Illini Johnny Hamui and KU Singh in the second semifinal on Friday. They moved up with a walkover by Chris Guccione and Peter Luczak.
Michael Yani’s great run was ended by Jesse Witten (6-4,6-4) and he will face Amer Delic in the singles semis. On the other side of the draw will be Bobby Reynolds and Alex Bogomolov. The schedule at the University of Illinois’ Atkins Tennis Center for Friday is as follows:
12 Noon-
Singles-Alex Bogomolov vs. Bobby Reynolds
Followed by-
Doubles- Raven Klaasen & Izak Van der Merwe vs, Johnny Hamui & Karunuday Singh
Followed by-
Doubles-Amer Delic & Bobby Reynolds vs. Ryler DeHeart & Pierre-:Ludovic Duclos
For full draws and results visit the official website for the JSM Illinois Challenger.
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