University of Minnesota Athletics
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Allen Advances to Singles Semifinals at ITA Regional
10/20/2018 6:16:00 PM | Men's Tennis
Allen's tournament streak began with victories over Oral Roberts' Blake Sprouse (6-0, 6-1), Oklahoma State's Emile Hudd (7-5, 7-5), Oklahoma's Aleksandre Bakshi (6-4, 6-4) and Omaha's Razvan Grogorescu (6-4, 7-6 (10)). After his hard-fought win over Grigorescu, Allen received a walkover from Oklahoma competitor Jake Van Emburgh in the quarterfinals to secure his bid into Sunday's singles semifinals. Since securing his spot in the semifinals, this marks Allen's best run yet at the ITA Regional tournament since being eliminated at last year's tournament in the Round of 32. Allen is the only non-seeded and Minnesota participant remaining in the singles draws.
"I wasn't hitting the ball the best today so I had to rely on my legs to run down a lot of balls" said Allen. "I stayed focused and composed throughout the match and was able to come out on top at the end. I am really excited to see what I can do in the semifinals."
After downing Oklahoma's Mason Beiler in the Round of 16 with a final score of 7-6(8), 6-4, Stefan Milicevic went head-to-head with the 14-seeded conference rival Kareem Allaf of the Iowa Hawkeyes. Despite the hard battle, Milicevic's tournament run would end in the quarterfinals by way of a 3-6, 6-7(4) score. In addition to Milicevic, Josip Krstanovic's tournament run would be stopped in the Round of 16 by Oklahoma State's Artur Dubinski 6-2, 5-7, 5-7.
On Sunday, Oct. 21 the sophomore will look to continue his rally in the singles semifinals set to kick off at 10:00 a.m.. If Allen wins his singles semifinals match he will participate in the finals which begin at 2:00 p.m.