3 IU mens tennis players score impressive results at 2 separate events

It was a big weekend for three IU men’s tennis players. Junior Peter Antons and freshman Santiago Gruter were the Flight “A” doubles champions at the University of Louisville Invitational, while freshman Jai Yoon won the gold medal at the 88th National Sports Festival in Gwangju, Korea.\n“That’s a big deal,” IU head coach Randy Bloemendaal said of Yoon’s accomplishments. “A real big deal.”\nSelected by the Korean Tennis Association of New York, Yoon left IU last week for South Korea where he represented Team USA in an Olympic-like event. He faced the best Korean amateur tennis players from around the world and took first place.\nAntons and Gruter, meanwhile, traveled with assistant coach Scott Linn to Louisville, Ky., where they were both Flight “A” quarterfinalists in singles competition and the doubles champions.\nOn the first day, each player won two singles matches in the 32-player draw, and they also teamed for an 8-1 doubles victory over a pairing from Dayton.\nOn Saturday, Antons and Gruter scored 8-5 and 8-6 victories over doubles teams from Cleveland State and Tennessee-Martin, respectively, while both suffered 6-4, 6-2 quarterfinal losses in singles. \nAntons fell to Louisville’s Alejandro Calligari, the eventual champion, while Gruter lost to Illinois State’s Luka Marinkovic, the tournament’s runner-up. \nOn Sunday, Antons and Gruter won the doubles title by default as one of their opponents forfeited due to illness. They were supposed to play Xavier’s doubles team of Doug Matthews, Xavier’s top singles player, and Chris Herrlinger, a Louisville transfer. \nWhile they didn’t have to swing a racquet to win the finals, Linn said he was pleased with the doubles team and the work it took to reach the finals.\n“They did a great job representing Indiana tennis,” Linn said. “They played very well as a team and worked well together. When things got tough, they just got better.”\nBloemendaal, though not in attendance, was also satisfied with the results – both in Louisville and two weeks ago at Notre Dame – saying Antons and Gruter exceeded his expectations. \n“I think they accomplished more than I expected them to these two tournaments,” he said.