Illinois Fighting Illini

[10isplayer]

Originally Posted by Satsuma Illini

Jared Hiltzik defeated Michael Redlicki 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals of the USTA Boys' 18 Clay Court Championships! On to the finals!

Hiltzik Update

He did not beat Michael. He beat Michael's younger brother Martin who will be a junior this upcoming school year.

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by 10isplayer

He did not beat Michael. He beat Michael's younger brother Martin who will be a junior this upcoming school year.

You're right. Michael Redlicki is ranked in the top ten so he'd be seeded. I was thinking Martin and typed Michael. haha Thanks for catching that.

[10isplayer]

Originally Posted by Satsuma Illini

You're right. Michael Redlicki is ranked in the top ten so he'd be seeded. I was thinking Martin and typed Michael. haha Thanks for catching that.

No problem you're not the first to make that mistake. Keep up the great work with the website

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by 10isplayer

No problem you're not the first to make that mistake. Keep up the great work with the website

One of the reasons is probably how Redlicki has been all over the Futures this summer. He's been consistently getting through the qualifying and has a couple of quarters and a semi under his belt. Impressive.

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by Satsuma Illini

Lots happening with the Illini this week!

At Delray Beach, Jared Hiltzik is the top seed in both the singles and doubles at the USTA Boys' 18 Clay Court Championships. He has advanced to the quarters in both so far.

Boys' 18 Clay Court Updates

At Godfrey, Illinois, nice present, former and future Illini are taking part in the Futures tournament this week; Ryan Rowe, Dennis Nevolo, Bruno Abdelnour, Stephen Hoh, Blake Bazarnik, Tim Kopinski, Farris Gosea, Brian Page and Alex Jesse.

Godfrey Updates

At the Godfrey Futures, Rowe, Hoh, Hoh, I mean Kopinski, have all advanced to the 4th round of qualifying. One more win and they get in the main draw!

At the USTA Boys' Clay Court Championships, Hiltzik was leading 6-4, 3-1 in the championship match when the rains came. It never let up so the match was abandoned. A lackluster end but Hiltzik made both the singles and doubles finals and made the Illini Nation proud!

[tball2day]

Originally Posted by Satsuma Illini

At the USTA Boys' Clay Court Championships, Hiltzik was leading 6-4, 3-1 in the championship match when the rains came. It never let up so the match was abandoned. A lackluster end but Hiltzik made both the singles and doubles finals and made the Illini Nation proud!

You mean that's it? Finito? How terrible to be so close but not get there!

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by tball2day

You mean that's it? Finito? How terrible to be so close but not get there!

Yeah, but what are you going to do? Hiltzik did us proud and he is the de facto champion. Can't wait to see how he does when the season starts this year.

[mrmo1115]

Originally Posted by Satsuma Illini

Yeah, but what are you going to do? Hiltzik did us proud and he is the de facto champion. Can't wait to see how he does when the season starts this year.

..so I'm assuming Jared got the Gold then? Why couldn't they just wait till tmrw?

[tball2day]

Originally Posted by mrmo1115

..so I'm assuming Jared got the Gold then? Why couldn't they just wait till tmrw?

No, there is no champion, match didn't finish, no winner, no gold ball. They will get finalist points. Match ain't over till it's over, so it's like it didn't play at all, at least record wise. Too bad they couldn't go indoors or something. Tournament dates are tight, they never extend, and if they did it once, would have to do it all the time and that would cause huge problems. Shame a level 1 couldn't finish but can't mess with nature.

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by tball2day

No, there is no champion, match didn't finish, no winner, no gold ball. They will get finalist points. Match ain't over till it's over, so it's like it didn't play at all, at least record wise. Too bad they couldn't go indoors or something. Tournament dates are tight, they never extend, and if they did it once, would have to do it all the time and that would cause huge problems. Shame a level 1 couldn't finish but can't mess with nature.

I think they made the decision too quickly. Apparently there was blue skies later on.

[Satsuma Illini]

Rowe and Kopinski have won 4 matches in qualifying and advance to the main draw of the Godfrey Futures! Hoh came close but lost a three-setter to 2nd seed Halebian.

Godfrey Futures

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by Satsuma Illini

Rowe and Kopinski have won 4 matches in qualifying and advance to the main draw of the Godfrey Futures! Hoh came close but lost a three-setter to 2nd seed Halebian.

Godfrey Futures

In the main draw, Nevolo and Ghasya face off in the 1st round and if Rowe wins his 1st round, he'll face the winner of those two. Kopinksi faces 6th seed Boltz.

[Satsuma Illini]

With Mitchell Kruger turning pro, the Illini now have the No. 1 tennis recruit in the nation for the 2012 class! If memory serves right, this is the third time the Illini have landed the #1 recruit. Congratulations to the Illini!

No. 1 Tennis Recruit

[Satsuma Illini]

Ryan Rowe defeated 8th seed Yuri Bezeruk and now advances to face Dennis Nevolo in the 2nd rd. That should be interesting. Kopinski lost to 6th seed Sebastien Boltz.

On a side note, Rajeev Ram is taking advantage of everyone going to London and has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles. Kevin Anderson is playing World Team Tennis this week.

Illini Tennis

[jaggy]

Rowe and Hoh should play doubles. For show.

[BRucks]

Originally Posted by Satsuma Illini

With Mitchell Kruger turning pro, the Illini now have the No. 1 tennis recruit in the nation for the 2012 class! If memory serves right, this is the third time the Illini have landed the #1 recruit. Congratulations to the Illini!

No. 1 Tennis Recruit

This surely gives Illinois a better recruiting class than A & M (I thought that it already was). Is there any chance that the class rankings change now?

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by jaggy

Rowe and Hoh should play doubles. For show.

LOL Good one.

[Satsuma Illini]

Originally Posted by BRucks

This surely gives Illinois a better recruiting class than A & M (I thought that it already was). Is there any chance that the class rankings change now?

They only update the team rankings twice a year so there won't be any change there.

[ClarkC]

Originally Posted by Satsuma Illini

With Mitchell Kruger turning pro, the Illini now have the No. 1 tennis recruit in the nation for the 2012 class! If memory serves right, this is the third time the Illini have landed the #1 recruit. Congratulations to the Illini!

No. 1 Tennis Recruit

When players start playing nothing but Futures and men's opens, they drop off the TennisRecruiting.net rankings entirely. That happened to Mac Styslinger, who has been ahead of Hiltzik throughout the last few years until his results dropped off.

I would say that Styslinger is the top junior who is actually going to college, but there were three guys who went pro who arguably would all have been ahead of him (Fratangelo, Peliwo, Krueger) so we will have to wait and see how good he is in college. Generally, there are about three really elite juniors each year, and it is unusual to have all three turn pro. The year before, the elite three were Jack Sock, Marcos Giron, and Mitchell Frank, and only Sock went pro.

[ClarkC]

Originally Posted by BRucks

This surely gives Illinois a better recruiting class than A & M (I thought that it already was). Is there any chance that the class rankings change now?

I doubt that Illinois' class was better than Texas A&M's before Krueger turned pro. Remember that Joshua Ward-Hibbert of England committed to A&M after the class rankings were voted on. He is very high level.