INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – Petros Chyrsochos has been a busy man this week.
Playing in both singles and doubles, the Wake Forest junior has competed in a total of nine matches at the inaugural Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, without tasting defeat.
On Saturday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, the third-seeded Chrysochos began his day with 6-2, 6-2 win over No. 16 Thomas Laurent of Oregon in the men’s singles semifinals. He then teamed up with Skander Mansouri and the Demon Deacons recorded a 6-3, 6-1 victory against No. 4 Louisville’s Chris Kougoucheff and Parker Wynn to advance to the men’s doubles final.
“Obviously, I’m super tired, but I’m very excited to be playing in the finals,” said Chrysochos, who is no stranger to ITA national event success, having won the 2016 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championship. “Skander and I got a wildcard into doubles. I wasn’t expecting to make it to the (doubles final), but I’m pretty happy about that, too.”
Should Chrysochos pull off the double-dip and win the men’s singles and doubles titles on Sunday, he’d become just the third player in the history of the ITA’s fall finale to win singles and doubles championships in the same year, joining Somdev Devvarman (Virginia, 2007) and Luke Jensen (USC, 1987) on the exclusive list.
In the men’s singles final, Chrysochos will face off against top seed Nuno Borges of Mississippi State. Borges took down UCLA’s Martin Redlicki in the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-4 decision.
“I had to stay intense the whole match and try and get something off his serve. I got lucky here and there and I’m glad I got the win,” said Borges.
Sunday’s men’s singles final, which gets underway at 10 a.m. PDT, and can be viewed by tuning in to the TempuZ live stream on the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships event page, or by using this direct link. The men’s and women’s singles finals will feature commentary by Mark Bey and Kaitlin Ray.
The men’s doubles final pits Chrysochos and Mansouri against the No. 8 seed out of Texas, Rodrigo Banzer and Leonardo Telles. The Longhorns survived a tough three-set battle against Wisconsin’s Chema Carranza and Josef Dodridge, ultimately claiming a 6-2, 3-6, 12-10 victory.
Saturday was quite the day for Andrea Lazaro of Florida International.
Not only did she turn 23-years-old, but she moved one step closer to securing an ITA National Championship. In the semifinals, she turned back No. 13 Fernanda Contreras of Vanderbilt, the 2017 Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Champion, in a three-set affair 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
“I’m so excited to play here in Indian Wells,” said Lazaro, who will face No. 11 Samantha Harris of Duke in the championship match. “I’ve never played against (Harris), but I’m just going to stick to my plan and play my game.”
Harris booked her spot in the final with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Bianca Turati of Texas. Like Chrysochos, Harris was attempting to reach the singles and doubles final, but she and teammate Kelly Chen fell to Emily Arbuthnott and Michaela Gordon of Stanford in the women’s doubles semifinal 6-1, 7-5.
Fresh off the victory over the No. 3-seeded Blue Devils, Arbuthnott and Gordon will face Alexa Bortles and Arianne Hartono of Ole Miss. The Rebels took down the No. 7 seed out of Georgia Tech, Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones 6-2, 7-6 (5) on Saturday.
Consolation titles are also on the line on Sunday. The men’s singles final features Alex Knight of Michigan taking on Giovanni Oradini of Mississippi State. Florida’s Anna Danilina goes up against Cal’s Anna Bright in the women’s singles final. In men’s doubles, it’ll be Florida’s Oliver Crawford and Chase Perez-Blanco against Oregon’s Laurent and Cormac Clissold, while the women’s doubles final is an all-Northwestern affair, as Alexandria Chatt and Lee Or play teammates Erin Larner and Madeline Lipp.
Draws, schedule of play, daily recaps and photo gallery links can be found on the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships event page. Live scoring via Tennis Ticker is available at both site locations, while TempuZ is providing live streaming coverage from two courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Links to both live scoring and streaming are also available on the event page. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter by following @ITA_Tennis and @OracleTennis and using the hashtag #ITAFallNats.