Illinois' GD Jones earns second-career Athlete of the Week honor - BIG TEN CONFERENCE Official Athletic Site

Illinois' GD Jones earns second-career Athlete of the Week honor

Nine conference squads claim ITA National Team rankings

	Jones sealed the Illini win against Duke with a three-set win in his

Feb. 8, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

GD Jones, Illinois
JR, Auckland, New Zealand/Kings College

Jones stunned ninth-ranked Duke's Ludovic Walter, ranked No. 9 in the nation, in a gritty three-set match at No. 1 singles on Friday. Jones claimed the first set with a 7-2 advantage in the tiebreaker, but Walter, a two-time All-American and ITA National Indoor Championship runner-up, evened the match with 6-3 performance in the second. Jones, who was competing in only his second match of the year, prevailed in the third set, 6-4, to seal an impressive comeback victory. After spending the fall recovering from two surgeries, Jones played his first match on Jan. 29 since the round of 16 in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. He followed the upset win against Walter with a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory over Notre Dame's Barry King in the No. 3 singles slot on Tuesday.

Jones earns his second career weekly honor and is the second Illinois player to be honored this season since Ryler DeHeart won on January 18.