It didn’t take long for recent Illinois graduate and former Illini men’s tennis player Ryler DeHeart make his mark in the professional ranks.

DeHeart won his first titles in both singles and doubles at the Lewis and Clark Community College Futures Tennis Tournament in Godfrey, Ill., this past weekend, beating two top seeds in the singles tournament to claim the title.

In doubles he paired up with South African Stephen Mitchell to take home the title.

“For Ryler to come out strong in his first professional tour events is big for him,” Illinois men’s tennis coach Brad Dancer said in a press release.

DeHeart upended top-seeded Xin-Yuan Yu of China in the opening round of the singles tournament, 7-5, 6-3, before taking aim at current Illini and ex-teammate junior Ruben Gonzales in the Round of 16. After defeating Gonzalez, DeHeart took down Michael Shabaz (USA) in the quarters to set up a semifinal match with No. 4-seeded Shannon Nettle of Australia.

Without making a single mistake the entire match, DeHeart breezed passed Nettle to a 6-4, 6-2, victory to advance to his first ever pro-circuit final against Todd Paul (USA). Despite dropping the first set 6-7(2), DeHeart came back and slammed the door in Paul’s face, losing only three games the rest of the way to win 6-2, 6-1 in the final two sets and capture his first professional title.

Shortly after winning the singles title DeHeart went to right back to work with doubles partner Mitchell in the doubles final. Coming off a 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5 upset victory in the semifinals over top-seeded Carsten Ball and Adam Feeney of Australia, DeHeart and Mitchell entered the doubles final with momentum on their side.

In the final DeHeart and Mitchell met fellow Americans Joey Atas and Ryan Recht, who proved to be no match for the former Illini standout and his partner. DeHeart and Mitchell would end up breaking Atas and Recht in the first set on the way to a 6-3 win, allowing them to coast to a 6-1 victory in the second set and giving DeHeart his second title of the weekend and his career.

“I am very proud of Ryler,” Dancer said in a press release. “This is a great start to what will be a great professional career.”

In other action, former Illini Amer Delic advanced to the finals of the Fifth Third Bank Tennis Classic in Lexington, Ky. as the No.5-seed in the tournament.