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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Fields for ITA Indoor Nearly Set after Completion of Regional Play; Aggies Pollock and Krajicek Play Golden Set/Match


The last ITA regional champions were crowned today, with only a few at-large bids remaining to fill the singles draws of 32 at the National Indoor next month in Charlottesville, Va. I'm told the complete fields will be announced on Friday, when, by my calculations, five men and four women who have otherwise not qualified will be extended invitations (there is one more man because the defending champion, Somdev Devvarman, is not eligble to return). It actually may be six men, since Texas A & M's Conor Pollock qualified two different ways.

Here are the regional results and the explanation of other qualifiers:

Regional Women's results:


MIDWEST: Samantha Murray of Northwestern over Kelcy Tefft of Notre Dame

EAST: Ragini Acharya of William & Mary over Bianca Aboubakare of Brown

SOUTH: Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia over Marritt Boonstra of Florida

WEST: Maria Sanchez of USC over Alison Ramos of USC

SOUTHEAST: Josipa Bek of Clemson over Laura Gioia of Furman

SOUTHWEST: Nina Munch-Soegaard of TCU over Taylor Ormond of Baylor

CENTRAL: Wiveca Swarting of Nebraska over Anouk Tigu of Arkansas

NORTHWEST: Melanie Gloria of Fresno State over Bojana Bobusic of California

Delia Sescioreanu of Auburn-Montgomery (Small College Champion)
Aurelija Miseviciute of Arkansas (defending Indoor champion)
One wild card to host UVA

All-American qualifiers:
Kelcy McKenna Arizona St
Fani Chifchieva Auburn
Maria Coussou Cal
Maria Mosolova Northwestern
Laura Vallverdu Miami
Amanda McDowell Georgia Tech
Ani Mijacika Clemson
Georgia Rose Northwestern
Amanda Fink USC (consolation winner)

Regional Men's results:


CENTRAL: Arnau Brugues of Tulsa over Matt Hogan of Arkansas

NORTHEAST: Chris Clayton of Harvard over Bogdan Borta of Columbia

MIDWEST: Bryan Koniecko of Ohio State over Justin Kronauge of Ohio State

MIDEAST: Dom Inglot of Virginia over Cory Parr of Wake Forest

SOUTHEAST: Nate Schnugg of Georgia over Bruno Agnostinelli of Kentucky

MOUNTAIN: Clancy Shields of Boise State over Martin Zimmerman of Denver

SOUTH CENTRAL: Connor Pollock of Texas A&M over Bruno Rosa of Rice

WEST-SOUTH*: Bassam Beidas of Pepperdine over Omar Altmann of Pepperdine

WEST-NORTH*: Alex Clayton of Stanford over Bradley Klahn of Stanford
*Only winner advances from these regionals

Fabio Silva of Fresno Pacific (Small College Champion)

One wild card to host UVA

All-American qualifiers:
Michael Venus LSU
Oleksandr Nedovyesov Okla St
Robert Farah USC
Enrique Olivares East Tennessee St
Conor Pollock Texas A&M
Blake Strode Arkansas
Michael Shabaz Virginia
Steven Moneke Ohio St
Guillermo Gomez Georgia Tech (consolation winner)

There are many new faces. By my count, only nine men and nine women who competed in singles last year have qualified this year. I'll link to the ITA list of all competitors, including doubles, once it is available.

For those of you not familiar with the terminology, a golden set refers to a set in which the victor wins every point. According to Wikipedia, it has happened only once in professional tennis when Bill Scanlon did it back in 1983.

As amazing a feat as that is, Conor Pollock and Austin Krajicek exceeded even that, playing a golden match in the first round of the South Central Regional doubles. Although a college doubles match at the regional level is only one eight-game set, it is hard to imagine winning 32 points in a row. But that's what Pollock and Krajicek did against Prairie View A&M's Jose Garcia and Kudakwashe Nyatoti last week. Pollock and Krajicek went on to win the regional title, beating three different Texas Longhorn teams en route.

7 comments:

Tucker said...

Thanks for the wrap-up! I went to the women's Northeast Regionals each of the past four days, and I had a great time watching some fantastic players. Acharya was in fine form all weekend, and Aboubakare really impressed me as well. It was also fun to see Lauren McHale, Lindsey Hardenbergh, and Kellie Schmitt, among countless other talented players. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Anonymous said...

Why in the world did Gary Sacks turn pro? Was he not doing well in school? Im only response to that news is, "huh?"

I guess I wish him the best.....as long as he doesnt go play for South Africa.

Anonymous said...

Why shouldn't Gary Sacks play for South Africa, that's where he's from and that's who he should always represent.

Anonymous said...

It is shocking that Sacks left USC, and tun pro ... He was a good college player . I hope he's happy and I wish him well !

Anonymous said...

If you have been coming here for the past few years you know that I have a strong feeling toward people who grow up in the USTA, take wildcards from them, then go and play for their old country. I just dont think its right, that's how I feel. That's why I have so much respect for Amer Delic who could have gone and played for Bosnia and been their top dog, but he appreciated and respected the USTA for supporting him and even though the wildcards have slowly dried up for him, he has stuck with the country that gave him the opportunities. Its a loyalty thing.

Anonymous said...

Austin -- Also, India would love to have Rajeev Ram playing for them, but he has stated repeatedly that it wouldn't be right since he has been supported by the USTA so much over the years.

love-tennis said...

I agree totally Austin.

Here, I'll open up a can of worms. It makes me mad that Maria Sharapova grew up mostly here, took advantage of all the US luxuries, yets plays for Russia and declares herself as 'from Russia'. Give me a break. Love the girl but that is not ok.

Yes, yes, I know they all do it (not just her), but it makes me mad. Give loyalty to where it belongs.