Chambana Sun

Illinois junior Kenta Miyoshi has been named the Big Ten Men's Tennis Player of the Week following his performance at Battle In The Bay, the conference announced on Wednesday.

Miyoshi recorded a 4-1 singles play record over four days in San Francisco, with all victories achieved in straight sets against ranked opponents. Despite an initial loss in his opening singles match, the Japan native rebounded with four consecutive wins to claim the men's singles consolation draw title.

Miyoshi secured his first singles win of the season with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 103 Maxi Homberg of Pepperdine in the first round of the consolation draw. He subsequently defeated No. 37 Pedro Vives, seeded third at the event, in two sets (7-5, 6-4) to advance to the semifinal. Miyoshi continued his winning streak with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph against No. 109 Casper Christensen of Arizona, earning a spot in the final.

In the men's singles consolation final, Miyoshi clinched his first hardware of the season with a 7-5, 6-2 win over San Diego's Savriyan Danilov.

Additionally, Miyoshi partnered with Karlis Ozolins in doubles play and secured an 8-5 victory over Cal's Derrick Chen and Timofey Stepanov in the first round of the men's doubles main draw.

This accolade marks Miyoshi as the first Fighting Illini men's tennis student-athlete to receive Big Ten Player of the Week honors since Hunter Heck on March 13. It is also Miyoshi's inaugural recognition for this conference-wide award.

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