Michigan
All-American Main Draw (Day 1)
Heller, Maravic Fall in First Round at ITA All-American
10/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
TULSA, Okla. -- Junior Ryan Heller (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North HS) and sophomore Matko Maravic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) of the University of Michigan men's tennis team both dropped first-round decisions in the singles main draw at the 2005 Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships today (Thursday, Oct. 6) at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Each player then upset a ranked opponent in the first round of consolation play.
Heller, who advanced to the 64-player main draw after earning three qualifying victories earlier in the week, lost in straight sets (6-3, 6-0) to No. 26-ranked Luigi D'Agord of Miami (Fla.). Maravic fell just shy in his bid at an upset of UCLA's No. 3-ranked Ben Kohlloeffel later in the morning, losing 7-6(12), 4-6, 6-1.
The No. 42-ranked Maravic was within one game of taking the first set from Kohlloeffel at 6-5, but Kohlloffel batted back to force a tiebreaker. The two players fought back and forth before Kohllofell prevailed 14-12 to earn the early leg up. Maravic rebounded for a 6-4 win to knot the match at one set apiece, but Kohllofell ran away with the match by taking the third set 6-1.
Heller earned an impressive victory in the 32-player consolation bracket in the afternoon, as he pulled off a 6-3, 6-4 upset of Virginia's No. 12-ranked Somdev Devvarman in the first round. It marked Heller's second career win over a nationally ranked opponent. He defeated then No. 60-ranked Jeff Kader of William & Mary 7-5, 6-4 on Jan. 29, 2005. Heller will play Florida State's Sam Chang in the round of 16 tomorrow morning (Friday, Oct. 7) at 9 a.m. CDT.
Maravic ended the day on a positive note, upsetting No. 32-ranked Joseph Jung 7-5, 7-6(6). Maravic will square off against Todd Paul of Wake Forest tomorrow at 9 a.m.
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
