ITA All-American Preview

The ITA All-American College Championships have been going on for almost a week with the pre-qualifying and qualifying but tomorrow starts the main draw. This tournament is at the The University of Tulsa, followed by the a junior tournament that starts Monday (ITF Grade 1 Pan American Championship).


www.itatennis.com

In singles, Mikelis Libietis (Tennessee) leads the field as the number 1 seed. Defending champion from Virginia Alex Domijan is out of the tournament and it is unknown why. It is his senior season and he was on the original acceptance list so it is unknown why he is out of the tournament. Last years runner-up Peter Kobelt will now be the 2nd seed. 5 Seed Marcos Giron is playing very good tennis right now, winning 2 ITF Futures singles titles in the last 3 weeks. New teammate Mackenzie McDonald got a wildcard into the main draw and the two of them despite being in the main draw for singles and winning and ITF Futures event as a team, are playing the qualifying draw in doubles together.

There are a few intriguing first round matchups in the singles:
Mac Styslinger (Virginia) vs. Michael Redlicki (Duke)
Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) vs.  #12 Mitchell Frank (Virginia)
#10 Japie de Klerk (Tulsa) vs. Roberto Quiroz (USC)
#1 Mikelis Libietis (Tennessee) vs. Dennis Mkrtchian (UCLA)

For the doubles, Mikelis Libietis will also be the 1 seed teaming with Hunter Reese (Tennessee). The team of Giron-McDonald qualified so they will be a team to watch out for, although they are unseeded. NCAA Doubles champ Mac Styslinger (Virginia) is now playing with Mitchell Frank instead of Justin Shane. This is due to Alex Domijan being out, who originally was paired with Frank. Texas A&M will be looking for big results in doubles, as they have 2 seeded teams. Those teams are #3 seeded Junior Ore and Jackson Withrow and #8 seeded team Shane Vinsant and Harrison Adams.

Here are a few intriguing first round matchups in doubles:
Mac Styslinger-Mitchell Frank (Virginia) vs. Peter Kobelt-Kevin Metka (Ohio State)
Marcos Giron-Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA) vs. #8 Harrison Adams-Shane Vinsant (Texas A&M)
Raphael Hemmeler-Bruno Semenzato (Duke) vs. #2 Hernuis Peters-Ben Wagland (Georgia)

Complete Draws and Seeds can be found here:
 http://www.itatennis.com/Events/ITANationalChampionships/MensAllAmerican.htm

Here is a clip of Peter Kobelt of Ohio State in last year's final against Alex Domijan courtesy of Zoo Tennis:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hr5HKVEKJLk