Ohio State men's tennis senior Matt Allare and freshman Blaz Rola cruised to straight-set victories as both Buckeyes advanced to the semifinals of the 2010 Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships held at the University of Notre Dame Sunday. Allare downed teammate Devin McCarthy 7-6 (1), 6-3 to move on and will face No. 7-seed Casey Watt of host Notre Dame. Watt upset Ohio State junior and No. 1-seed Chase Buchanan 7-6, (7), 6-2 to earn the match-up against Allare.
Rola, the fifth-seed, won a 6-2, 6-2 match, defeating Illinois' Dennis Nevolo, who was the No. 4-seed in the bracket. Rola will face Michigan's Evan King next. The sixth-seeded King ended Buckeye senior Balazs Novak's run in the regional with a straight-set 6-2, 6-2 victory.
In doubles action, two Buckeye pairs moved on to the semifinals. The No.9-seeded duo of Novak and McCarthy defeated fourth-seed Stephen Havens and Tyler Davis from Notre Dame, 8-6. The No. 1-seeded Buckeye tandem of Buchanan and Rola were dealt a 9-7 loss from Dennis Nevolo and Abe Souza of Illinois, who will go head-to-head with Novak and McCarthy next.
Allare and sophomore Peter Kobelt, the No. 5 seed, also advanced to the main draw doubles semifinals by defeating Northwestern duo Spencer Wolff and Josh Graves, 8-6. They will face Illinois State pair Timon Reichelt and Alek Pelaez in one of the semifinal matches.
Semifinal action will begin at 9 a.m. Monday for both main draw singles and doubles. Updated brackets of the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Tournament will be available at
http://und.com.