Virginia Dominates Day Two of the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships


Virginia Dominates Day Two of the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships

TULSA, Okla.- Virginia became just the the third team in the 32-year history and first in two decades of the D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships to have three different players advance into the singles quarterfinals.

 

The perennially top-ranked Virginia men's tennis team entered the tournament with the most participants in the singles draw with five, including four players ranked in the top 30 and the top-ranked freshman in the inaugural Campbell/ITA Newcomer Rankings.

 

With only two days left to play, three Cavs are among the event's singles quarterfinalists (Sanam Singh, Drew Courtney and Alex Domijan), nearly two doubles teams advanced to the semifinals, while Jamere Jenkins is making a strong push in the singles consolation draw. Had it not been for No. 6 Shabaz' retirement in yesterday's match due to leg cramps, there would've been a strong possibility that UVA could've owned half of the remaining singles draw.

 

The other teams to accomplish this feat were USC in 1984 and Stanford in 1990.

 

The most impressive victory of the day belonged to Domijan, who not only knocked out the remaining highest seed in second-seeded Henrique Cunha from Duke, but did so nearly without breaking a sweat, defeating last year's ITA Rookie of the Year in a 6-2, 6-1 blowout. 

Domijan was the top American junior player entering the collegiate ranks this year. He is currently ranked No. 574 in the world in the ATP singles rankings, having reached the finals at two Futures Tour events and reaching the quarterfinals of Junior Wimbledon, edged in three sets by 2009 NCAA singles champion Devin Britton. 

The singles quarterfinalists taking on the red-hot Cavs include No. 8 Eric Quigley of Kentucky, who will take onSingh tomorrow, Cunha's No. 1-ranked doubles partnerReid Carleton, who matches up against Courtney and ninth-ranked Alexandre Lacroix of Florida, paired against Domijan. 

The remaining quarterfinal matchis a rematch of the 2010 NCAA Singles Championship match, where Louisville's Austen Childs looks to claim revenge on reigning Champion Bradley Klahn from Stanford. Klahn defeated the unseeded Childs 6-1, 6-2, becoming the 14th Cardinal to claim the men's singles title.

Up 6-3 in the quarters, it looked as though Domijan and Jenkins were going to give UVA the best chance at capturing the doubles title with half of the remaining teams left in the draw. However, the Florida Gator team of Lacroix and Nissim Slilam dug their heels in and made an astounding comeback to take the match 8-6. 

 

Virginia still has a great shot at capturing a title in doubles though, led by their No. 1 doubles team of Courtney and Shabaz, the reigning NCAA Champions and the bracket's No. 3 seed, who return after posting a 24-5 overall record last spring. They face the bracket's stiffest competition, taking on the top-seeded Duke duo of Carleton and Cunha, who were named the Campbell/ITA Doubles Team of the Year last season.  

The tournament, hosted by the University of Tulsa at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, kicked off on Saturday, October 3 with six rounds of prequalifying and qualifying singles and doubles leading up to today's main draw competition.

Play resumes Saturday with two rounds of singles matches beginning at 10 am CDT, and a round of doubles.

 

For complete results and event information, visit www.itatennis.com.
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