Ilic Prevails in All-Forest Hills PSAL Singles Championship

For the first time ever, the PSAL Tennis Singles Championship was an all-Forest Hills showdown.

The top two seeds in the draw from , seniors Stefan Ilic and Justin Vijungco, lived up to their billing and advanced to the championship round Tuesday afternoon at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing. It was top seed Ilic who dominated the long baseline rallies throughout the match, overpowering Vijungco on his way to a 6-2 6-2 victory.

"I've known Justin since we were little and he hasn't changed his game style at all, so I knew exactly what to expect going in," said Ilic. "I expected to be able to go out and control the points."

Crowding well inside the baseline on Vijungco's second serves, Ilic used his forehand to gain the first strike in rallies and put pressure on Vijungco's baseline game. After breaking serve in the first game of the match, a pair of winning volleys gave him an additional break to go up 4-1. Three games later, a backhand error from Vijungco wrapped up the opening set.

"I just tried to play my game from the beginning," said Ilic. "I served well and was able to stay on top of things throughout."

The second set was nearly identical to the first, with well-timed approaches to the net giving Ilic breaks of serve in Vijungco's opening service game and again at 3-1.

Serving to stay in the match at 1-5, a penetrating backhand from Vijungco erased Ilic's first championship point. Using strong defense to stay in the rallies, he held serve to hang on at 2-5, but one last serve down the middle from Ilic wrapped up the match on his second championship point.

Despite the scoreline, head coach Ira Wolin said he was extremely pleased with the play from both Ilic and Vijungco throughout the season.

"We wouldn't have come close to having anybody win this a couple of years ago, let alone having two guys from our team in the finals, so it's a testament to how good they both are," said Wolin.

Ilic and Vijungco have each signed national letters of intent to compete on college tennis teams this fall. Ilic will play at SUNY Stony Brook, while Vijungo will compete for SUNY Farmingdale.