Hinsdale's Martin Joyce, Eddie Grabill meet in final of U.S. Open tennis qualifer

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – When Martin Joyce and Eddie Grabill were on the same team, they were each two-time high school state champions at Hinsdale Central.

Joyce and Grabill were on opposite sides of the net on June 13 in the men's singles championship match at the U.S. Open National Playoffs Midwest Sectional qualifying tournament at the University of Notre Dame.

Joyce defeated Grabill 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to move on to the 2016 U.S. Open National Playoffs and kept alive his chance to play in the U.S. Open.

The No. 1 seed and last year’s tournament winner, Joyce was excited about the win and acknowledged how challenging it was to play against a friend and former teammate.

“Obviously winning feels really good," Joyce said in a press release from the United States Tennis Association. "This year was tougher than last year, too, being that he’s a really good player. We’ve played a lot in the past, and this [match] was a good one, too.”

Joyce, who went 24-2 in singles play and 23-13 in doubles action as a freshman at Ohio State this year, came back to the U.S. Open National Playoffs to test himself against some of the best.

“It’s just a really cool event, especially being a part of the U.S. Open,” he said.

Although he fell to his former teammate, Grabill, who went 17-7 in singles and 3-1 in doubles in his debut season at Dartmouth this year, was pleased with reaching the finals.

“I was really happy I was able to reach the finals," Grabill said in a press release. "Coming here I was the No. 5 seed so I didn’t have much expectation of making a run in this tournament, so getting here was definitely an accomplishment."

Joyce won Illinois High School Association singles state titles for Hinsdale Central in 2013 and 2015 while Grabill was singles champ in 2014 and a doubles champ along with Harold Martin in 2013.