No. 26 Illinois men’s tennis faced Purdue on Friday and Indiana on Sunday to cap off its regular season. With the Big Ten tournament starting next weekend, Illinois shone and took down both of its opponents.
Illinois got off the ground quickly in doubles against Purdue on Friday. Sophomore Kenta Miyoshi and junior Mathis Debru defeated Stefan Simeunovic and Henrik Villanger, 6-2. The No. 35 pairing of redshirt senior Lucas Horve and graduate student Oliver Okonkwo clinched the point after defeating Daniel Labrador and Juan David Velasquez, 6-4. Senior Alex Petrov and redshirt freshman Tyler Bowers’ match on court three went unfinished while the Illini duo was leading 5-3.
The doubles momentum carried on throughout the evening singles matches. Okonkwo finished his match first after Villanger retired in the middle of the first set with Okonkwo harboring a 5-4 edge, setting the Illini off to a 2-0 overall lead. Freshman Jeremy Zhang was next to strike, and easily put away the Boilermakers’ Mujtaba Ali-Khan in straight sets (6-3, 6-0). Soon after, Bowers clinched the match for Illinois on court four, also winning in straight sets (6-3, 6-4).
Even with the match decided, both sides agreed to let the remaining singles matches play out. No. 98 Miyoshi (6-3, 3-6, 6-4) and Petrov (6-1, 7-6 (6)) both won their matches, but Debru lost a three-set thriller to Labrador (1-6, 6-3, 7-5). Even though he won the first set 6-1, Debru gave up the next two, including an enthralling twelve-game deciding set. The two additional wins and a loss after the match had been decided cemented a 6-1 overall victory for the Illini.
Amid Sunday’s Senior Day festivities, Illinois was opposite Indiana for another one-sided victory. Illinois was reliable again on doubles, with Petrov and Bowers defeating Indiana’s Facundo Yunis and Luc Boulier, 6-4. The upperclassmen duo of Horve and Okonkwo clinched the doubles point by defeating Jagger Saylor and Ilya Tiraspolsky, 7-5.
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In singles, Petrov strengthened Illinois’ lead to 2-0 by sweeping Yunis (6-3, 6-3) on court one. In his second tightly contested match of the weekend, the French native Debru delivered for Illinois, defeating Deacon Thomas (6-0, 7-6 (3)) in the second match to conclude.
Similarly, Bowers capitalized on his second clinching opportunity of the weekend and moved past the Hoosiers’ Tiraspolsky on court four in three sets (6-2, 4-6, 6-3). The remaining matches were not played out and Illinois took a 4-0 victory over Indiana.
“I’m super happy for the seniors to get that victory today, especially Alex Petrov playing at the one hole,” said head coach Brad Dancer. “He had it locked in today. Overall, we are still working on focus in late April and that’s a concern, but here we go. Regular season done — postseason here we come.”
With a strong closing statement throughout the past couple of weeks, Illinois has confirmed the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament and a 16-8 overall record. Illinois will battle No. 5 Nebraska in the tournament on April 25, in Evanston, Illinois.
