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Thursday, October 4, 2007

Defending Champion Brugues Ousted in Second Round at Polo All-American


©Colette Lewis--
Tulsa, OK--

I saw nearly twelve hours of tennis today at the Michael Case Tennis Center and this afternoon there was another big upset to go with the first round loss of No. 2 seed Steven Moneke of Ohio State this morning. Tulsa's Arnau Brugues, the 2006 Polo All-American champion, lost to qualifier Thomas Liversage of San Diego 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, leaving the bottom half of the draw with No. 7 seed Erling Tveit of Mississippi as the highest remaining seed.

In the top half of the draw, No. 5 seed Luke Shields of Boise State and No. 6 seed Bryan Koniecko of Ohio State both failed to reach Friday's round of 16, as did 9 seeds Pierre Mouillon of Cal and Ryan Rowe of Illinois. In fact, there are as many qualifiers still remaining as there are top eight seeds, with Liversage, Jack Baker of South Alabama, Robert Farah of Southern California and Alex Clayton of Stanford advancing through three rounds of qualifying and two rounds of main draw. And that doesn't count lucky loser Cosmin Cotet of TCU, who continued his stellar play with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Wake Forest's Cory Parr to reach the round of 16.

It was a warm and breezy day in Tulsa, and the new awnings erected since last year's event provided some welcome relief from the early autumn sun. I didn't sit much, however, trying to catch a few games of as many matches as I could. After three NCAAs, two team indoors, three individual indoors and a previous All-American, there weren't too many players I hadn't seen, but there were a few. Connor Pollock of Texas A&M, who I'd seen play many times in the junior, played well, and in his second round match with No. 8 seed Andre Begemann of Pepperdine, it was quite a treat to see two players who don't shy away from serving and volleying and chipping and charging on occasion. Begemann won the match 7-5, 6-3. Jack Baker, a senior from Great Britain, is new to me, as is Liversage, Cotet and Farah. But with one more day to watch them play, I should have a better idea about the strengths of their games.

The first round of doubles was played this evening, and just as in the singles draw, the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds were upset. Matt Bruch and Blake Muller of Stanford, the second seeds, lost to Alex Cojanu and Keziel Juneau of William & Mary 9-7, and Nicolas Delgado and Pedro Graber of Virginia Tech, the third seeds, fell to qualifiers Brugues and Ricardo Soriano of Tulsa 8-4. Top seeds Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey of Virginia did escape the upset bug, and both are still in singles as well.

For complete draws, including consolations for first round losers, see the itatennis.com site.

The women's Riveria All-American lost its top two seeds in first round action today, with LSU's Megan Falcon and USC's Lindsey Nelson exiting. Georgia Tech and Florida have six of the 16 players remaining, with three each. For complete results, click here.

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