Wong Advances at ITA Midwest Regionals

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Aaron Wong put himself one step away from entering the main singles draw, and the Western Michigan men's tennis team wrapped its first day of competition at the 2012 ITA Midwest Regionals hosted by Michigan State. The Broncos will be back in action on Friday morning.

Wong went 2-0 on the day in singles to reach the finals of the Singles Qualifier draw, and will one final match in the qualifier on Friday at 8 a.m. Should Wong win the match, he will move into the main singles draw, where he will face Ohio State's Hunter Callaghan.

The only Bronco seeded in the qualifier, Wong began his day with a relatively breezy defeat of UIC's Rahul Kamath, downing the regional opponent 6-0, 6-2. Wong earned a victory in his semifinal match as well, defeating UW-Green Bay's Michael Tebon 6-4, 6-3.

Elsewhere on the court, two other Broncos rebounded from first round losses to pick up consolation victories. Stephen Payne recovered from a loss to IPFW's Daniel Kang with a hard-fought win over Michigan State's Harry Jadun, coming back from a one-set deficit to win 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (7). Freshman classmate Jim Beckwith completed a similar feet, bouncing back from a first set loss to Chicago State's Sergiu Muresan 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (8).

The main draw is scheduled to begin on Friday morning; both Ross VanderPloeg and Andrew Cahn will begin singles play at that time. Doubles play will begin at 11 a.m.

Daniel Kang (IPFW) def. Stephen Payne (WMU) 6-2, 6-0
Stephen Payne (WMU) def. Harry Jadun (MSU) 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (7)

Joey Leto (UWGB) def. Jimmy Beckwith (WMU) 6-4, 7-6 (0)
Jimmy Beckwith (WMU) def. Sergiu Muresan (CSU) 2-6, 6-3, 1-0 (8)

Christian Roehmer (MSU) def. Michael Treis (WMU) 7-5, 6-1
Chris Cheung (UDM) def. Michael Treis (WMU) 6-3, 6-3

Aaron Wong (WMU) def. Rahul Kamath (UIC) 6-0, 6-2
Aaron Wong (WMU) def. Michael Tebon (UWGB) 6-4, 6-3

Ali Shabib (CSU) def. Marc Shideler (WMU) 6-3, 6-0
Mathias Hambach (DEP) def. Marc Shideler (WMU) 6-1, 6-4