EDWARDSVILLE - Jett Middleton, Thomas Nelson, Gus Tettamble and Mujthba Ali-Khan all advanced to the semifinals of the Pro Wild Card Challenge tennis tournament, presented by The Gori Law Firm, as the tournament got underway on Thursday at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
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The tournament is a qualifier for next week's Edwardsville Futures tournament, presented by The EGHM Foundation, in which the winner gains a wild card berth into the main draw for the tournament, which starts on Monday.
In the opening round of the challenge, Middleton, as the top seed, received a bye into the quarterfinals, while Daniel Prado won over Shayan Najam 6-4, 6-1. Nelson defeated Colton Hulme of Edwardsville 6-3, 6-4 and Eli Wood won over Kai Daudsayh 6-0, 6-0.
Daniel Gomez eliminated Edwardsville's Jesse Hattrup 7-5, 6-2 and Tetamble shut out Jim Halcombe 6-0, 6-0. In the final pairings, Kevin Kruzel won over Erik Weiler of Edwardsville 6-1, 6-2 and Ali-Khan received a first-round bye for being the second seed.
In the quarterfinals, played on Thursday evening, Middleton won over Prado 6-2, 6-2, while Nelson defeated Wood 6-4, 3-6, 10-6, Tetamble won over Gomez 6-3, 6-2 and Ali-Khan won over Kruzel 6-4, 6-0. In the consolation bracket quarterfinals, Najam received a bye into the consolation semifinals, while Hulme won over Daudsayh 6-3, 6-2, it was Halcombe over Hattrup 6-1 in the first set and led in the second 5-4 when Hattrup was forced to retire due to injury and Weller received a bye into the consolation semifinals.
In the championship semifinals, it'll be Middleton going up against Nelson, while Tetamble plays Ali-Khan and in the consolation semifinals, Najam plays Hulme and Weller meet Halcombe with play set to begin at 9 a.m. Friday morning.
The finals in both brackets, along with the third and seventh place matches, will be played Friday afternoon, with times to be determined. The championship match winner advances to the main draw of the Futures.
The Doubles Shootout, presented by Jeb and Ginger Blasingame of Keller Williams Marquee real estate, a one day event where the winner will advance to the main draw of the Futures, is set for Saturday, with the matches set to begin at 10 a.m. Matches will played Sunday in case of rain or other circumstances.
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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