Top Seed Heck, Second Seed Okonkwo Win Openers In Men's Singles, Local Women's Players Advance Singles In Opening Day Of Edwardsville Open

EDWARDSVILLE - Top-seeded Hunter Heck of St, Paul, Minn. and second seed Ollie Okonkwo of Iowa City, Ia. won their opening round matches, while local women's singles players advanced to the quarterfinals on the first day of the 2023 Edwardsville Open tennis tournament Friday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.

The Open is one of the preliminary events for the upcoming Edwardsville Futures tournament, which will hold its 12th edition on July 24-30 at the ETC.

In the men's open singles first round, Heck defeated John Black of Chesterfield, Mo. 6-0, 6-0, while Edwardsville's Erik Weller won over Greg Berger of Edwardsville 6-1, 6-0. Juan Serero of St. Louis defeated Chris Griesedieck of Springfield, Mo., 6-0, 6-1 and Patricio Garcia-Muriel of San Antonio, Tex. defeated Edwardsville's Jesse Hattrup 6-1, 6-3. Reid Jarvis of Springfield, Mo. won over Devan Faulkenberg of Troy 6-0, 6-1 and it was Cole Davis of Ballwin, Mo. defeating Will Frank of St. Louis 6-1, 6-0. To complete the upper half of the dram, Blake Strode of St. Louis won over Matthew Bier of St. Charles, Mo. 6-1, 6-0 and Noah Hernandez of Hinsdale, Ill. won over Cody Neal of Fenton, Mo. 6-0, 6-2.

In the lower half of the draw, Gus Tettamble of St. Louis defeated Kai Daudsyah of Chesterfield 6-1, 6-0, while Felipe Gomez of St. Charles won over Rafay Cheema of O'Fallon, Mo. 6-1, 6-0. It was Thomas Nelson of Sleepy Hollow, Ill. winning of Colton Hulme of Edwardsville 6-2, 6-2 and Henry Ruger of Philadelphia defeated Jade Dynamic of Edwardsville 6-1, 6-0. Nikita Snezhko of Minneapolis won over Jordan Faulkenberg of Maryville 6-0, 6-0 and Santiago Munoz-Quiroga of St. Charles defeated Riley Muren of O'Fallon, Ill. 6-2, 6-0 and in the final two matches, Oscar Pachon of St. Louis defeated Dylan Faulkenberg of Troy 6-0, 6-0 and Okonkwo won over Michael Rudman of Belleville 6-0, 6-0.

In the women's open singles first round, Edwardsville's Chloe Koons, the top seed, received a bye into the quarterfinals, while Sophie Byron, also of Edwardsville, won over Lauren Welcher of Bethalto 6-0, 6-1. Abigail Thurmer of Chesterfield received a bye into the quarterfinals, while Alyssa Wise of Edwardsville won over Mary Clayton of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. in a walkover. Nawal Cheema of O'Fallon, Mo. won over Erin Jarvis of Springfield, Mo. 6-4, 6-1 and Katie Woods of Edwardsville won over Patricia Mercade-Gonzalez of St. Peters, Mo. 6-1, 6-2. In the final matches of the opening round, Paisley Struewing of Belleville defeated Zoe Byron of Edwardsville 6-1, 6-3 and second seed Kyra McCandless of Lexington, Mass. received a bye into the quarterfinals.

In the men's 18-and-over singles, Dave Snider of Collinsville, the top seed in the draw, received a bye into the quarterfinals, while James McKeever of Alton advanced with a 6-2, 6-0 win over David Larner of Maryville. Issac Chelboun of Edwardsville defeated Hung Nguyen of Fairview Heights 7-5, 6-3, while Daniel Krummrich of Fairview Heights won over Yangdong Pan of Edwardsville 6-2, 6-4. Parker Mayhew of Alton defeated Mike Pellock of Edwardsville 6-2, 6-3 and James Rhodes of St. Louis won over John Almos of Glen Carbon 6-3, 6-2. In the final matches of the round, David Gonzalez of Alton defeated Kasey Deaton of Bethalto 6-0, 6-1 and Timothy Flatt of West Frankfort, Ill. eliminated Kevin Deaton of Wood River 6-1, 6-1.Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

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