Danila Kurkulin of Grace College won the singles crown at the ITA Regional Championships on Saturday. He is shown with Grace coach Larry Schuh (Photo provided by the Grace College Sports Information Department)

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Danila Kurkulin of Grace College battled through the highly competitive ITA Regional Championship, winning the singles’ crown on Saturday.

Kurkulin had to win six matches in the 64-person field, including both the semifinal and final matches on Saturday. He is the first recorded Lancer to win an ITA Regional championship in school history.

He will advance to the ITA National Championship agains the other regional winners in Arizona from Oct. 13-16.

“It would be way too simplistic to say that Danila had a great tournament, and he did not have an easy draw either. Every person he played was a tough player, and he handled them in a way that can only be described as efficient,” said Grace head coach Larry Schuh. “He only dropped 16 games through the tournament and did not lose a set, including beating No. 5 UNOH in the finals. He played patient and mentally tough from the first match on Thursday morning to the sixth match on Saturday afternoon.”

On Thursday, Kurkulin blitzed through the first two rounds of the tournament by beating both Indiana Tech and Huntington by identical scorelines of 6-2, 6-1. “The scores give the appearance of easy matches, but those were two very tough singles’ players. Both those matches were very tough,” Schuh said.

Friday saw Kurkulin win two more straight-set matches. He defeated Indiana Tech’s Fernando Sousa 6-0, 6-2 and Cornerstone’s Marc Lerch 6-2, 6-1. “He played not just strong but also efficiently. Most players have long matches this deep in the tournament.”

Saturday brought about the “Final Four.” Kurkulin beat Aquinas’s Gunnar Peery 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals to reach the championship.

His opponent in the finals was UNOH’s Theo Baudin. Like he did in the previous five matches, Kurkulin proved to have the upper hand in straight sets with an emphatic 6-0, 6-3 win.

Kurkulin redeemed last year’s finals’ defeat by winning this time around. His appearance in the finals was Grace’s third straight in the championship round, including Kurkulin in 2015 and Daniel Sanchez in 2014.

The Lancers will resume Crossroads League play next week, traveling to Taylor on Wednesday.