2009 ITA Men’s and Women’s All-American Championship Main Draws Begin Today

  2009 ITA Men’s and Women’s All-American Championship Main Draws Begin Today
Qualifying men’s and women’s singles and doubles play their way into Main Draw

TULSA, Okla.. – The 2009 D’Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships and the Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships kicked off Saturday, October 3 and are the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s (ITA) first national events of the 2009-10 season. The tournaments included six rounds of prequalifying and qualifying singles and doubles with the highly anticipated main draw competition beginning Thursday morning and concluding with Championship play on Sunday, October 11. Tennis' top men’s and women’s collegiate players are competing in the event with many of the top seeds also featured atop the Campbell/ITA preseason singles and doubles rankings, which were released in early September.

The Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships are hosted by the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. for the 25^th consecutive year while the D’Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships, hosted by the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Okla. for the third straight year.

Highlighting this year's men's singles field is top seed and 2008 Runner-Up, Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State. The 2009 Campbell/ITA National Men’s Player of the Year resumes his spot atop the Campbell/ITA College Tennis Rankings where last year he became the first OSU player to top the ITA rankings since Pavel Kudrnac in 1998. The senior compiled a 35-7 singles record in 2008-09 while playing a ranked opponent in every match except three. The ITA National Men’s Player to Watch won his second consecutive Big 12 player of the year award and advanced to the NCAA Singles Championship Round of 16 for the second straight year.

Also highlighting this year's men's top seeds are (in order): John-Patrick Smith of Tennessee, Robert Farah of USC, Nate Schnugg of Georgia, Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech, Dimitar Kutrovsky of Texas, Alex Clayton of Stanford and Jean-Yves Aubone of Florida State.

The doubles field includes Tennessee’s top-ranked duo, Davey Sandgren and John-Patrick Smith, who were named the 2009 ITA Men’s Doubles Team of the Year.

Headlining this year’s Riviera All-American field is Northwestern’s Maria Mosolova. The 2008 ITA National Women’s Player to Watch also started out atop of the 2009 spring rankings and ended the year ranked No. 2. With 2009 Campbell/ITA National Women’s Player of the Year, Mallory Cecil having left the college game early to join the pro circuit, Mosolova has reclaimed the top spot in the Campbell/ITA women’s rankings.

Rounding out the top eight seeds: Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia, Marritt Boonstra of Florida, Jana Juricova of California, Hilary Barte of Stanford, Laura Vallverdu of Miami (FL), Kelcy McKenna of Arizona State and Irina Falconi of Georgia Tech.

The doubles field includes 2009 ITA Women’s Doubles Team of the Year, Renata Kucerkova and Anastasia Petukhova of Fresno State. The duo captured the doubles title at the 2008 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships.

With the conclusion of qualifying play, 16 men and eight women have played their way into the singles main draw, while eight men and four women’s doubles team have also accomplished this feat.

Past All-American participants include current professionals Benjamin Becker (Baylor), James Blake (Harvard), Bob and Mike Bryan (Stanford), Laura Granville (Stanford), John Isner (Georgia), Kevin Kim (UCLA), and Lisa Raymond (Florida).

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

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