Quarters and Semis set at Wilson/ITA Central Region Championships

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The main draw singles field was narrowed to the final eight on Saturday, leaving only seeded players to compete in the quarterfinals to be held Sunday morning at Dills Indoor Stadium on the University of Arkansas campus.

The lone upset in the main draw happened as 13-seed Adrian Chermaci of Wichita State felled Tulsa’s Marko Ballok, the eighth seed in the tournament , in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, one of two three-set matches in the round of 16. The second three-setter, between 10-seed, Oklahoma State’s Nathan Byrnes, and the 2-seed from Oklahoma, Andrei Daescu, was decided as Daescu overwhelmed Byrnes in the final set to win the match, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

The round of 16 also included two one-team matches from Tulsa and Arkansas. In the first match, No.1-seed Arnau Brugues dismissed fellow Tulsa teammate James Seagraves, 6-1, 6-1 Arkansas’ match pitted Matt Hogan, the 7-seed, against No.15-seed Dmitry Lebedev, and Hogan never paused in routing his fellow Hog in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.

Included in Sunday’s quarterfinals is a Big 12 showdown between Nebraska’s potential No.1 men’s player, David Bendheim, the third seed at the tournament, and the 5-seed from Oklahoma, Sergey Avdeyev. Avdeyev has yet to play a third set in the tournament, and Bendheim has not been tested since his first round match against Eric West of Southern Illinois when he lost a first set tiebreak before coming back to win in three.

In the consolation singles draw, Nebraska’s Maor Aumueller continued on his streak, eliminating Chris Nott of Arkansas decisively, 6-1, 6-0. St. Louis’ Ken Nordheim got a fight from foe Albert Jou from Tulsa who took the first set in a tiebreak, but Nordheim came back and won the final two sets easily, in a 6-7(6), 6-0, 6-2 victory.

On Sunday morning, consolation quarterfinals begin for all but Nordheim who advances to the semifinals on a walkover against Michael Hobson from Illinois State and will await the winner of Blake Boswell of Oklahoma and Ivan Mendoza of Drake.

Two rounds of doubles took place on Saturday afternoon and, as on the singles court, Aumueller is rolling, this time with partner Benedikt Lindheim. The Two Cornhuskers are into the semifinals against teammates David Bendheim and Calin Paar who have torn up the doubles court in October. In the other semifinal on Sunday, the Matt Hogan and Blake Strode will face their toughest challenge yet; they must beat Nathan Byrnes and Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State, the 1-seed to advance to the finals on Monday for a chance at playing at National Indoors in November.

Play on Sunday, which will be confined to Dills Indoor Stadium for the duration of the tournament, begins at 9 a.m. with the main draw and consolation singles quarterfinals. At 1 p.m., remaining players will take the court for the semifinals in both the main draw and consolation singles. Doubles semifinals will follow all singles play at 3 p.m. For complete coverage of the 2008 Wilson/ITA Central Region Championships, log onto ArkansasRazorbacks.com.