Weerapat Doakmaiklee-Kirati Siributwong from Thailand and Steven Forman-Cory Parr from Wake Forest advanced to today’s 5:30 p.m. doubles final. Doakmaiklee-Siributwong knocked off top-seeded Biasella-Garza 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in the first semifinal, and Forman-Parr beat Helgeson-Jamie Hunt from Georgia 6-4, 6-4.

Wolff and Strode have spent the last week playing tennis in Joplin. Both had to win three matches in a 73-man qualifying tournament to earn their main-draw spot.

“I was lucky I got a bye and only had to play three matches, but it’s still a grind,” Wolff said.

“You get a lot of tough match play,” Strode said. “And for me, going into next year after I finish at Arkansas, I’d like to have a starting point in terms of points.”

Yes, those precious points at the Futures level provide immediate as well as long-term benefits.

“With points, you don’t have to go through those grinding qualfiers all the time,” Strode said. “It’s a lot about points. You eventually want to get out of those qualifiers. ‘Qualies’ are tough.”

“As soon as you get your first point, you got it made,” Wolff said. “One point is big.”

Strode defeated sixth-seeded Doakmaiklee in Wednesday’s first-round encounter.

“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised,” Strode said. “I go into every tournament expecting a lot of myself. ... I’m certainly pleased because qualifying is so tough. This is only the second one of about eight times playing in these tournaments that’s I’ve made the main draw. Now to be in the quarterfinals is really big.”

Strode, a graduate of Pattonville High School in St. Louis, has 71 singles victories in three seasons with the Razorbacks, and he led the team with 19 doubles victories this spring. Within the last two months, he received the Central Region’s ITA/Arthur Ashe Award for Leadership and Sportsmanship, and he was named Southeastern Conference co-scholar/athlete of the year for men’s tennis.

Strode has a 3.96 grade point average as a double major in international economics and Spanish. He’s received an A in every class except one..

“Don’t make me relive it,” Strode said. “It was a class called goods and services. It got about an 89 in that class (90 would be an A). It’s for business majors. It deals with logistical-type things ... how you keep stock up, inventory, inventory turnover, different types of transportation. It was all over the place. It deals with a lot. To me it’s boring.”