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EDWARDSVILLE – A series of summer tennis tournaments in the Edwardsville area got under way Friday at the Edwardsville High School tennis complex with opening-round matches of the Edwardsville Open tennis tournament.
The tournament kicks off a series of tournaments set for this summer at the complex, culminating the week of July 25-31 with the USTA Edwardsville Futures men's event at the EHS courts.
Edwardsville High tennis coach and tournament director Dave Lipe is looking forward to the events at the complex this summer. “This is the first tournament that starts off the whole summer series,” Lipe said. “The Edwardsville Open this weekend, then the Tiger Tennis Classic in two weeks, about a month after that, we host the Edwardsville Satellite, which is a junior novice tournament, and then, of course, we host our $25,000 pro circuit men's Futures tournament; that's the crowning jewel, so to speak, of the summer.”
The Edwardsville-area tennis community provides strong support to all the tournaments that will be taking place this summer. “We get great participation from the St. Louis community, in this case,” Lipe said. “There are players here from throughout the country vying for the wild card (entry) in the men's Open singles, but the mixed doubles is a great draw this weekend, the men's singles is a great draw this weekend because it's a wild-card event for the qualifying and the main draw.”
Local talent also makes up the participants in this weekend's tournament as well. “Callaghan (Adams, a four-year standout for the Tiger girls' tennis team who recently graduated) is playing mixed doubles; she's the No. 1 seed in mixed doubles. Erik Weiler (who was a standout for the EHS boys team in the just-completed season) is playing doubles, Jack Desse and Grace Desse are playing mixed doubles.
“There's lots of local guys in men's (competitions)” as well, Lipe said.
One of the opening men's singles matches on Friday's card included Kirk Schlueter of Edwardsville scoring a 6-4, 6-1 win over Jonathan Claywell of Godfrey; Claywell played for Marquette Catholic's team last season and will be a senior for the Explorers next year.
“It was really hot and it's a hard tournament, so it's more of a fast pace; it was a really good learning experience,” Claywell said. “It's way different from high school (tennis), that's for sure. You've got older guys up here that hit the ball harder; it's fun for sure. I think the match turned on fitness; fitness is what got me. I think.”
Glen Carbon's Tony Zollo was also taking part in the tournament, in the men's 3.5 competition; he was defeated by San Diego's Jimmy Hendricks in the opening round 6-0, 6-2. Prior to the match, however, he talked about how he took up the game after his high school days in Connecticut and has played for some 30 years.
“I played the three major sports (in high school),” Zollo said. “I picked it up when I was about 25, then stopped playing for many years; when I moved here, I started playing again (Zollo will turn 60 in a couple of weeks). It's a great sport (that can be played by anyone at any age).
“The best thing is the exercise; I've been able to maintain my weight and keep it down (through playing the game).”
Here are the results from Friday's matches; the tournament was slated to resume Saturday morning, with finals scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Sunday at the EHS courts:
MEN'S SINGLES
First Round: Michael Lesko def. Connor Rust 6-4, 1-2 (retired); Matthew Dunn def. Trent Purnell 6-1, 6-0; Chase Stumne def. Devan Falkenberg 4-6, 6-2, 10-7; Dylan Falkenberg def. Kyle Shipman 6-1, 6-2; Arashi Cogan def. Joseph Pearce 6-0, 6-1; Brett Brannon def. Michael Tang 6-2, 6-0; Dylan Steffens def. Romeo Monzones 6-0, 6-0; Jordan Falkenberg def. William Harness 7-5, 6-1; Kirk Schlueter def. Jonathan Claywell 6-4, 6-1; John Wu def. Kobi Phillips 6-3, 6-0; Piotr Wianecki def. Aaron Skaer 7-6, 2-6, 10-8
Second Round: Carson Haskins def. Lesko 6-1, 6-0; Dunn def. Stumne 6-4, 6-2; Kristopher Ortega def. Dylan Falkenberg 6-2, 6-4; Michael Peters def. Cogan 6-1, 6-1; Steffens def. Brannon 6-1, 6-0; Jordan Falkenberg def. Kalim Stewart (default); Wu def. Schlueter 6-0, 6-2; Asher Hirsch def. Wianecki 6-1, 6-0
WOMEN'S SINGLES
First Round: Laurie Burke def. Mariam Clayton (Clayton withdrew, injury); Trish Skaer def. Dana Metzger 6-2, 6-0; Ashley Bonine def. Kiya Phillips
Semifinals: Racquel Allen def. Burke 6-0, 6-0
MEN'S 3.5 SINGLES
First Round: Logan Kuhns def. Trey Ourth 6-3, 2-6, 10-6; Jimmy Hendricks def. Tony Zollo 6-0, 6-2
Quarterfinals: Kuhns def. Evan Kroeker 6-3, 6-3; Jason Pan def. Damon Trasda 6-3, 6-7, 10-8; Hendricks def. Jeff Banker 6-2, 7-5; Chris Cottone def. Paul Juranek 6-0, 6-1
