Men's Open Singles Semifinals, Women's Open Singles, Open Doubles Finals Are Set, Laurie Burke Takes Women's 18-And-Over Singles At Edwardsville Open

EDWARDSVILLE - The semifinals of the men's open division were set, as were the finals of the women's open division and the two open doubles draws, while Laurie Burke took home the 18-and-over women's singles on day two of the Edwardsville Open tennis tournament, played Saturday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.

The tournament is one of the preliminary events held for the upcoming Edwardsville Futures tournament, which is scheduled for July 25-31. The Doubles Shootout is set for July 16 and the Pro Wild Card Challenge, events where the winners receives a wild card berth into the Futures tournament, is scheduled for July 21-22.

In the first round of the men's open singles, Colton Hulme of Edwardsville defeated Will Frank of St. Louis 7-6 (7-3 in the tiebreak), 6-4, Rafay Cheema of O'Fallon, Mo. won over Jordan Faulkenberg of Maryville 6-2, 6-1 and Parker Mayhew of Alton advanced when Greg Berger of Edwardsville was forced to retire because of injury. In the Roun of 16 matches, Hunter Heck of St. Paul, Minn. won over Jim Halcomb of St. Louis 6-0, 6-0, it was Hulme over John Black of Chesterfield, Mo. 6-4, 6-1, Gus Tettamble of St. Louis won over Mayhew 6-0, 6-0, Nishanth Basavareddy of Carmel, Ind. won over R.J. Miskell of Fairview Heights 6-0, 6-1, Takayuki Higuchi of Schaumburg, Ill. advanced when Blake Strode of St. Louis was forced to withdraw because of injury, Hernandez, of Hinsdale, Ill., defeated Cheema 6-0, 6-1, Ayush Negi of St. Louis defeated Zachary Plocher of Alton 6-1, 6-1 and Daden Deaver of St. Louis won over Ollie Okonkwo of Iowa City, Ia. 6-0, 6-0.

In the quarterfinals, Heck eliminated Hulme 6-1, 6-0, it was Tettamble winning over Basavareddy 6-0, 4-6, 10-6, Hernandez won over Naguchi 6-0, 6-0, Okonkwo got past Negi 6-1, 6-1.

In the women's open singles Round of 16, Morgan Marshall of Glen Carbon won over Sophie Byron of Edwardsville 6-1, 6-2 and Nawal Cheema of O'Fallon, Mo. defeated Paisley Struewing of Belleville 6-1, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Ava Markham of Demarest, N.J. defeated Marshall 6-0, 6-0, Edwardsville's Chloe Koons won over Elizabeth Barlow of St. Louis 2-6, 7-6 (7-1 in the tiebreak), 10-8, Elizabeth Norman of Terre Haute, Ind. defeated Cheema 6-0, 6-2 and Abigail Thurmer of Chesterfield, Mo. advanced when Kennedy Gibbs of Humble, Tex. was forced to withdraw because of injury. In the semifinals, Markham defeated Koons 6-0, 6-0 and Norman won over Thurmer 6-0, 6-0.

In the men's open doubles, the quarterfinals saw Heck and Okonkwo win over Christian Hamilton of Belleville and Ryan White of St. Louis 6-0, 6-1, it was Clinton Vanvalkenburgh of Chesterfield, Mo. and Steve Moehm of St. Louis winning over Hulme and Miksell 6-4, 6-1, Hernandez and Seth Lipe of Edwardsville won over Eduardo Abilez of Ballwin, Mo. and Plocher 6-0, 6-1 and Matthew Bishop of St. Louis and Tettamble defeated Jade Dynamic of Edwardsville and Tettamble by walkover due to illness. In the semifinals Heck and Okonkwo defeated Vanvalkenburgh and Moehm 6-0, 6-0 and Hernandez and Lipe eliminated Bishop and Tettamble 6-1, 6-3.

In the quarterfinals of the women's open doubles, Byron and Alyssa Wise of Glen Carbon won over Jessa and Brooklyn Earnhart of Edwardsville 6-2, 6-1 an Koons and Marshall defeated Marshall and Katie Woods of Edwardsville 6-0, 6-3. In the semifinals, Byron and Wise won in a walkover over Norman and Gibbs due to illness and Thurmer and Barlow defeated Koons and Marshall 6-1, 6-3.

In the men's 18-and-over singles, the Round of 16 saw Evan Kroeker of Carbondale defeat Kris Lakin of Edwardsville 6-0, 6-1, Tim Platt of West Frankfort won over Yangdong Pan of Edwardsville 6-0, 6-2, Austin Mueller of Belleville won by walkover over James Rhodes of St. Louis, Mike Pellock of Edwardsville defeated Schaefer Bates, also of Edwardsville, 6-3, 6-2, Michael Nurmela of Valley Park, Mo. won over Anthony Zollo of Glen Carbon 6-0, 6-2, Dan Krummrich of Fairview Heights defeated Tim Curran of Collinsville 6-2. 6-3 and Dave Snider of Collinsville won by default over Nathan Bartlett of Godfrey. In the quarterfinals, Ryan Cochran of Collinsville won over Kroeker 6-1, 6-2, it was Mueller over Flatt 6-7 (3-7 in the tiebreak), 6-4, 6-4, Nurmela won over Pellock 6-0, 6-3 and Snider defeated Krummrich 6-0, 6-1.

In the semifinals, it was Cochran over Mueller 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 and Snider won over Nurmela 6-1, 6-3.

The 18-and-over women's singles were played in a round-robin format, due to three entries in the field, and Burke, of St. Louis, won both of her matches to claim the title, defeating Angela Reckelhoff of Troy 1-6, 6-3, 10-6 and Laura Moore of Godfrey 4-6, 7-5 when Moore retired because of illness. In the other match, Reckelhoff defeated Moore 7-6 (10-8 in the tiebreak), 3-6, 10-5.

The finals in men's and women's open singles, as well as the doubles finals, will be played on Sunday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center, with play beginning at 8:30 a.m.

Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

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