Pradella, Loeb Named Top Seeds for USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships

The USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships begin Thursday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. The draws have not yet been released, but the ITA preview has the names of the top five seeds in singles as well as the four doubles seeds.

The seeding committee obviously didn't opt to use the preseason rankings, which is not unusual, but I can't say I expected Baylor's Patrick Pradella to receive the No. 1 seed for the men.  With All-American champion and 2011 champion Mitchell Frank of Virginia electing to compete in Challengers this week and next, there's no question the No. 1 seeding was up for grabs, and Pradella, a senior from Germany, was selected to fill the role of favorite.

Guillermo Alcorta of Oklahoma, the All-American finalist who beat Pradella in the quarterfinals in Tulsa, is the No. 2 seed, followed by another Baylor Bear, Julian Lenz. Lenz, a sophomore from Germany, reached the semifinals at the All-American Championships last month.

The No. 4 seed is Austin Smith of Georgia, with Gonzales Austin of Vanderbilt, another All-American semifinalist, seeded fifth.  As the release points out, three quarterfinalists from last year--Raymond Sarmiento of USC, Marcos Giron of UCLA, and Mikelis Libietis of Tennessee--are in this year's field and are not seeded.

Women's defending champion Robin Anderson of UCLA is the No. 2 seed this year, which gives an indication how strong the women's field is.  All-American champion Jamie Loeb of North Carolina is the top seed, and understandably so, as she defeated Anderson in the Riviera final.

Seeded third is Beatrice Capra of Duke, and Sabrina Santamaria of Southern Cal is the fourth seed. Cal's Zsofi Susanyi, a semifinalist last year, is seeded fifth.

The doubles seedings for the women have also moved the defending champions to the No. 2 spot, with two-time defending champions Kaitlyn Christian and Santamaria of Southern Cal at the bottom of the 20-team draw. At the top will be Jennifer Brady and Catherine Harrison of UCLA, with another USC team, Zoe Katz and Brynn Boren, the third seeds.  Breaunna Addison and Pippa Horn of Texas are seeded fourth.

The men's top seeds are All-American champions Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis of Tennessee. Seeded second are Lloyd Glasspool and Soren Hess-Olsen of Texas, with All-American finalists Mackenzie McDonald and Giron of UCLA seeded No. 3.  Illinois' Ross Guignon and Tim Kopinski are the No. 4 seeds, after winning the All-American consolation doubles title.


The tournament page, where links to the draws, live scoring and live chat can be found when they are available, is here.