TUSCALOOSA – West Alabama’s Christopher Bulus advanced to the semi-finals of the 2020 ITA Fall Circuit Hosted by Tuscaloosa Tennis Center and presented by Eric Wilson Law, LLC this weekend.

Bulus defeated NCAA Division II All-American Ondrej Ctverak from Hawaii Pacific University and the Czech Republic, 6-0, 6-3 to open play in the tourney.

The Lagos, Nigeria native then defeated Christian Lakoseljac from Penn State and Ontario, Canada 6-2, 7-5 in the second round. Lakoseljac played No. 1 for the Nittany Lions last spring and has been nationally ranked in both singles and doubles at NCAA Division I.

Bulus dispatched a second player from Penn State in the quarterfinals, beating Sam Bossem of the United Kingdom 1-6, 6-2, 10-2. Bossem is the 163^rd ranked junior player in the world.

Memphis’ Oscar Cutting ended Bulus’ run in the tournament with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 victory in the semi-finals. A native of England, Cutting then lost in the championship match to Alabama and Tianjin, China product Zhe Zhou, 6-3, 5-7, 10-6.

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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – West Alabama tennis players Haina Franco and Christopher Bulus both earned a spot in the main draw of the 2020 ITA National Summer Championships that begin Friday at Mitchell Tennis Complex on the campus of Texas A&M.

“It is great to see both our players make the main draw of this prestigious event,” UWA head coach Jeff Beaman said. “They will play against some of the best competition there is and will learn a ton from this experience that they can carry over into their college careers.”

Franco will open play Saturday against Riley McQuaid of Texas A&M, the No. 16 seed who finished with a 14-4 singles record for the Aggies last spring and was a five-star recruit out of Pacific (Calif.) Coast High School. Franco was the 2019 Gulf South Conference Freshman of the Year and owns a 21-9 career singles record and a 21-8 career doubles record.

Bulus is set to play Lucas Brown, also on Saturday, a blue chip recruit who is ranked as the No. 2 Junior in the United States. Brown is from Plano, Texas and has an overall record of 59-18. Bulus was 8-3 in singles and 8-2 in doubles play in 2020, his first year as a Tiger after transferring in from New Mexico Military Institute.

The Summer Championships run through Tuesday.

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LIVINGSTON – University of West Alabama men’s tennis players Christopher Bulus and Ilari Vesanen are enjoying success in the summer circuit, with Bulus winning the ITA Summer Singles Circuit in Corpus Christi, Texas and Vesanen taking second in the Finland National Championship men’s doubles event.

Bulus won three matches on the first day of the competition with relative ease, before taking down Jake Faryniarz of San Antonio, Texas, 6-0, 6-1 in the semi-finals and Javier Gonzalez Huerta from the University of Texas at San Antonio 7-6, 3-6, 10-4 in the finals.

Vesanen and doubles partner Mikko Rouvala won three matches before being defeated in the finals by Patrick Kaukovalta and Eero Vasa 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 in the finals.

Vesanen and Bulus teamed up to post an 8-2 record in doubles before the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bulus was 8-3 in singles and Vesanen 8-2.

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