The Illinois men’s tennis team racked up 12 wins last week at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championships in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with senior Aleks Kovacevic, junior Alex Brown, sophomore Siphosothando Montsi and senior Zeke Clark representing the Illini in the tournament.

Montsi faced Southern Methodist University’s Jan-Simon Vrbsky in the opening round, cruising to victory in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1. Montsi’s second round opponent, Georgia’s Tyler Zink, offered some tougher competition, winning the first set, 7-5, before Montsi won the next two rounds, and the game to advance to the final round of qualifying. Olivier Stuart of Mercer stood as the final obstacle to the main draw for Montsi, though the Illini sophomore prevailed, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Playing in his hometown, Clark’s run to the main draw was almost flawless, never losing a set over the course of the three rounds. Clark defeated Oklahoma’s Mason Beiler (7-6 (4), 6-1) and Kent Hunter of California, 6-2, 7-5, in the opening two rounds of qualifying, before beating Duke senior Nick Stachowiak, 6-4, 6-2, to join Montsi, Kovacevic and Brown in the main draw.

Montsi’s first-round opponent, Texas’ Christian Sigsgaard, entered the tournament as the first overall seed and eliminated Montsi in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.

Clark faced Charlie Broom of Dartmouth to open up main-draw action. After splitting the first two sets, Broom edged Clark 7-5 in the final frame, 7-5, to end the Illini senior’s run in Tulsa.

Kovacevic arrived in Tulsa as the tournament’s fourth overall seed and played Rice’s Sumit Sarkar in his season debut, winning 7-6 (5), 6-4. The Illini senior needed three sets to defeat his second-round opponent Andres Martin of Georgia Tech, 6-2, 6-7(0), 7-6(3), before falling to underdog Hady Habib of Texas A&M, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Brown opened up the tournament with a showdown with Oklahoma State’s Emile Hudd. Brown needed three sets to defeat Hudd, winning 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4. Brown’s second-round matchup saw Brown face University of California, Los Angeles’s Keegan Smith, a rematch of the Oracle ITA Masters semifinals that Smith won in three sets. Brown was unable to exact his revenge, falling to Smith in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.

Brown and Kovacevic also competed in doubles competition, defeating Florida duo Oliver Crawford and Sam Riffice, 7-5, 6-4, in the opening round before falling to Gabriel Decamps and Juan Pablo Mazzuchi of the University of Central Florida, 6-3, 6-2, to eliminate the Illini pair from the competition.

Clark and Montsi both competed in consolation play, with both players winning their first-round matches before losing in the second round and ending their respective tournament runs. Montsi defeated South Carolina’s Daniel Rodrigues, 6-1, 6-3, and lost to Josh Charlton of Oregon, 6-2, 6-3, while Clark beat SMU’s Carles Sarrio, 0-6, 6-2, 7-5, before falling to Ohio State freshman Cannon Kingsley in three sets, 6-7(1), 7-6(4), 7-5.

Looking ahead, the team will prepare for another road trip to the ITA Regional Championships in Ohio this weekend.

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