Illinois men’s tennis Aleks Vukic earns weekly Big Ten honor

Illinois+Aleks+Vukic+returns+the+ball+in+the+match+against+University+of+Kentucky+on+Friday%2C+Feb.+24+at+the+Atkins+Tennis+Center+in+Urbana.

Brian Bauer

Illinois’ Aleks Vukic returns the ball in the match against University of Kentucky on Friday, Feb. 24 at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana.

By Tatiania Perry, Assistant sports editor

For the third time this season, Aleks Vukic was named the Big Ten Men’s Tennis Athlete of the Week.

The junior is coming off four singles match victories against ranked opponents — three ranked in the top-15.

Ranked No. 20 himself, Vukic handed TCU’s No. 3 Cameron Norrie his first loss of the season with a 6-7 (2), 6-3, 10-6 win last Wednesday night.

The following Saturday, Vukic moved on to best California’s No. 13 Florian Lakat with a 6-4, 6-4 win. The team then traveled to Stanford on Monday where Vukic took down No. 15 Tom Fawcett in a 6-3, 6-0 victory.

Vukic is currently on an 11-match singles winning streak.

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In doubles play, the Australian native teamed up with freshman Vuk Budic on Monday to defeat Stanford’s duo of Genender and Kumar, 7-5.

This is the seventh time Vukic has earned the honor in his career.

Illinois will travel to Minnesota on Friday and conclude its five-match road stretch in Wisconsin on Sunday.

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