Ilie, Karr advance to final

The final day of the high school boys tennis season will certainly feature outstanding matches.

In the singles final of the CIAC State Open Championships, Andrew Ilie of Trumbull will play Darien’s Michael Karr Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Wesleyan University in Middletown.

Ilie, a senior, won the Class LL title last week, while Karr, also a senior, captured the Class L singles championship. Ilie advanced to the championship match by pulling out a hardfought 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5) win against Nicholas Condos of Wilton in Monday’s semifinals, also held at Wesleyan.

Condos was defeated by Karr in a grueling three-set match in the Class L finals. Ilie beat Jacob Stiger of Stonington in the first round, 6-2, 6-0, then beat Josh Israel (Daniel Hand) in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-2. At last season’s State Open, Ilie lost to 2018 graduate Evan Felcher of Staples in the title match.

Karr was a 6-3, 7-5 winner over Westhill’s Jordan Soifer in Monday’s semifinals. He topped George Danes of Old Lyme in the first round, 6-1, 6-0, then came back to beat Prem Dave (Norwalk) in the quarterfinals, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

In the doubles bracket, the Staples duo of Tighe Brunetti/Robert Daus moved on to the finals by registering a 6-4, 6-2 triumph against Darby Rogers/Reilly Vejar of Daniel Hand in Monday’s semifinal round. Brunetti and Daus won the Class LL doubles title last week.

They defeated the Class M champion team of Chris Nuzzo and Garrett Johnson from Morgan in the quarterfinals. Brunetti and Daus will face Westhill’s Tyler Pomerance/Rohan Suryawanshi in the championship match.

Pomerance/Suryawanshi advanced by beating Darien’s Christopher Calderwood/Romano DeCaprio in the semifinals, 6-4, 6-3.

Wednesday’s State Open doubles final is a rematch of the Class LL title match won by Daus and Brunetti, 6-4, 6-2.