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Sunday, August 17, 2008

College Tennis News: Seguso to UCLA, Singh & Acharya win ITA Summer Titles, Angle Leaves ITA; McDowell Throws out First Pitch, Cerretani at US Open


With most colleges beginning classes by the end of the month and the All-American championships less than two months away, it's time to look at some of recent news in college tennis.

UCLA, the 2008 women's champions, lost a majority of their starting lineup, but Stella Sampras Webster has added Nina Pantic, Carling Seguso and Georgia Tech transfer Maya Johansson to the Bruins roster. Click here for the school's release.

Sanam Singh of Virginia and Ragini Acharya of William and Mary earned the wild card spots in the All-American draws with victories last week in the ITA National Summer Championships in Bloomington, Ind. Singh and Houston Barrick won the men's doubles title, with Miami's Michaela Kissell and Laura Vallverdu taking the women's doubles championship. The ITA website has this wrap-up, and also the bad news (for the tennis industry) that Casey Angle is leaving the ITA. He'll be missed more than words can express.

Although NCAA champion Amanda McDowell may not have gotten the main draw U.S. Open wild card, the Georgia Tech junior threw out the first pitch at the Braves game on Friday night, while coach Bryan Shelton was named honorary team captain. The school's release on these honors is here.

And former Brown tennis player Jamie Cerretani is the subject of this Boston Globe feature. Cerretani has worked his way into the top 50 in doubles on the ATP tour and will be making his debut at the U.S. Open later this month.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cerretani and Eric Butorac are two really good stories. Neither one were top junior players, Butorac didnt even play Division I tennis, now here they both are, around 26yrs old and making a dent in pro tennis. Its a refreshing thing to see.

Anonymous said...

I agree 100%. Becoming top 50 in the world is quite a feat!
I am also particularly impressed because neither guy seems to have a huge weapon. Maybe they benefited from lack of weapons by having to craft a complete game?
I wonder why other talented guys, who haven't made it in singles, don't try this route (i.e. Evans, Simmonds, Oudesma).
I think it would be better to be a doubles star than a singles grinder, but that's open to debate.

Anonymous said...

They will when the USTA drops them very soon.