CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini men’s tennis team will be well-represented at the ITA Midwest Regional, with seven Illinois student-athletes set to compete in both singles and doubles play throughout the five-day tournament.
The singles qualifying bracket will begin on Thursday, the doubles main draws will get underway on Friday, and the final day of competition is scheduled for Monday. The tournament will be hosted at the MSU Tennis Center in East Lansing, Mich.
Mathis Debru will begin his singles run in the qualifying draw. Tyler Bowers, Gabrielius Guzauskas, Kenta Miyoshi, William Mroz, Zach Viiala, and Jeremy Zhang will all take part in singles main draw action, while three Illini duos will compete in the doubles main draw bracket starting on Friday. Debru/Miyoshi, Guzauskas/Mroz, and Bowers/Viiala will represent the Orange and Blue in doubles play.
Guzauskas, Miyoshi, and Mroz will make their first collegiate appearance since participating in singles action at the ITA All-American Championships at the end of September. Mroz picked up four victories at the event, including his first ranked triumph of the season, while Guzauskas and Miyoshi each tallied one win during their respective tournament runs.
Bowers, Debru, Viiala, and Zhang will all return to action for the first time since the Harvard Chowerfest from Sept. 20-22. Viiala secured the first singles title of his college career at the competition, while Bowers posted three singles wins of his own. Debru and Zhang each totaled two singles victories apiece at the event.
Debru and Miyoshi will team up in doubles play for the first time this season after competing together for the majority of the Illini’s 2024 spring campaign. Guzauskas and Mroz will play as a duo for the first time since the 2022-23 slate, while Bowers and Viiala are set to feature as a partnership for the second consecutive tournament after taking part in doubles play at Chowderfest.
The ITA Midwest Regional is the second of four tournaments this fall that serve as a qualifier for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships, which are scheduled for Nov. 19-24 in Waco, Texas. The two singles main draw finalists and the doubles champion will earn automatic bids for NCAAs at the end of November.
Once made available, the ITA Midwest Regional draws and daily schedules can be…
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