MADISON — Kyle Hehli is headed back to the semifinals of the WIAA Division 2 state tennis bracket after picking up two straight-set victories at the Nielsen Tennis Stadium on Friday.
Hehli (24-3) is one win away from the finals and two wins away from a championship in the singles bracket after beating Shorewood’s Nolan Johnson 6-0, 6-0 and picking up a 6-1, 6-0 win over New Berlin Eisenhower’s Tommy Heinrich in the quarterfinals.
Hehli placed fourth as a junior and fifth as a sophomore after winning the Division 2 doubles championship with his brother Jack three years ago.
Hehli draws East Troy freshman and third-seeded Teddy Busateri (24-2) in the semifinal round at 9 a.m. Saturday.
Hehli beat Busateri 6-3, 6-4 during a match played in Sun Prairie this season.
“He’s a really good player, and he came out swinging,” Hehli said of their regular-season match. “He hits it really hard, and if he gets a couple in a row, he can get confident.
“He definitely did (in the first match), and I have to stay composed and get a couple in a row myself.”
The win over Johnson wasn’t much of a challenge once Hehli figured out not to challenge Johnson’s forehand, and he knocked off a hot-hitting Heinrich.
“He came in off an upset of the No. 7 seed, so he came in with confidence,” Hehli said of Heinrich. It was 1-1 early in the first set, and then I won the next 11.
“He had a good serve, so I had to use my speed to get to the balls and get them back. Then he got frustrated, started overhitting, and I used that to my advantage.”
Top-seeded Oliver Milleman (27-1) of Waukesha Catholic Memorial plays St. Mary Catholic’s fourth-seeded Wesley Auth (25-1) in the other semifinal.
Aquinas senior Anderson Fortney (32-4), who is seeded 10th, had his run in the Division 1 singles bracket come to an end with a 6-2, 6-4 quarterfinal loss to seventh-seeded Grant Schaefer of Whitefish Bay.
The Logan doubles team of senior Finnian Clark and freshman Mitchell Jarrett (13-5) also had their run in the Division 2 bracket with a 6-1, 4-6, 10-7 loss to The Prairie School’s Jonathan Orth and Musa Rahman.
