Champaign Marks Last USA Challenger in 2013; Champaign Challenger Preview

The field in Champaign will not be as strong as the field in Knoxville but is still a fairly strong one. Headlined by Knoxville Champion Tim Smyczek as the top seed (once again), here are the seeds for the singles:

1. Tim Smyczek
2. Jack Sock
3. Rajeev Ram
4. Alex Kuznetsov
5. Peter Polansky
6. Rik de Voest
7. Samuel Groth
8. John-Patrick Smith

Like the last 2 challengers, this challenger is on a college campus (this time being at Illinois). So the Illinois Fighting Illini will have representation in the draws with current players and former players. In the main draw singles, Tim Kopinski (current), Dennis Nevolo (former), Rajeev Ram (former) and Jared Hiltzik (current) will represent the Illini. In the main draw doubles, Alex Jesse/Jared Hiltzik, Ross Guignon/Tim Kopinski will represent the Illini. Fares Ghosya and Dennis Nevolo are in the final round of qualifying doubles as well.

                                                          www.illinoischallenger.com

There are more unfamiliar names in the draws than usual, but there still are a few key first round matchups that struck my eye. UCLA's Marcos Giron got a wildcard into this main draw coming off of his consolation singles title in New York City and will play 3 seeded Rajeev Ram in the first round. Ram didn't look quite in form in Knoxville so watch out for a good battle from the UCLA Bruin. All the way at the bottom of the draw, 2 seeded Jack Sock will take on Bjorn Fratenjelo. I'm assuming Sock will win this one, but these two players both came up through the juniors together and it'll be a nice little rematch. Right "above" this match, Canada's Filip Peliwo will take on former Tennessee Volunteer Tennys Sandgren.

Look for Canada's Peter Polansky to make a run here, as he has made his last 3 Challenger finals (winning 1 of them). He will play a qualifier in the first round. Former Michigan player Evan King is in the final round of qualifying and will play Canada's Milan Pokrajac today. This would add to the college twist as Michigan and Illinois are Big 10 Conference rivals.

Here are the seeds for the doubles:

1. Groth/Smith
2. Krajicek/Sandgren
3. de Voest/Ram
4. Cluskey/Neuchrist

The Australian team of Samuel Groth and John-Patrick Smith are coming off of a title in Knoxville. A Knoxville semifinal can be repeated if both Krajicek/Sandgren and the team of Carsten Ball/Peter Polansky win their first rounds. Ball/Polansky won that match. The Illini have two teams in this field with Kopinski/Guignon and Hiltzik/Jesse. Kopinski/Guignon are coming off a semifinal run at the ITA Indoors and will be looking to build on that run here on their home courts.

This will be a good end to the USTA Pro Circuit for the year and I look forward to watching it.