The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
USTA/ITA National Indoors
Men’s Tennis Preview: USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
11.02.2016 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns freshmen Christian Sigsgaard and Yuya Ito open competition in the event’s singles draw on Thursday.
WHAT: Texas freshmen Christian Sigsgaard and Yuya Ito will compete in their second national championship events of the fall when they take part in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships this weekend.
Sigsgaard will take on Ohio State's top-seeded Mikael Torpegaard in the first round while the sixth-seeded Ito will meet Georgia Tech's Chris Eubanks in round one of the 32-player singles draw.
WHEN/WHERE:
USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
Thursday, Nov. 3 through Sunday, Nov. 6
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center – Flushing, N.Y. (site of annual U.S. Open)
LIVE SCORING: http://www.tennisticker.de/usa/ita/sb.html?tournid=2933
LIVE VIDEO (paid subscription required): http://www.flotennis.com
HOW DID THEY GET HERE?
Sigsgaard and Ito, who join USC's Brandon Holt as the only freshmen in the 32-player men's singles draw, earned their bids to the National Indoors by way of strong fall tournament showings, particularly in October.
Sigsgaard produced an incredible run at the ITA All-American Championships that began in the first round of the pre-qualifying singles draw and didn't finish until he had reached the semifinals of the main singles draw.
The newcomer from Denmark needed four wins in the pre-qualifying singles draw just to reach the qualifying draw, where he needed three more victories to qualify for the main singles draw. Sigsgaard defeated three ITA-ranked opponents in the qualifying draw to reach the main draw, where he put on a truly impressive showing.
Sigsgaard led off the main draw with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Northwestern's 12th-ranked Konrad Zieba before rallying for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Ohio State's No. 65 Herkko Pollanen in the second round.
Sigsgaard made short work of Baylor's 54th-ranked Max Tchoutakian and won in straight sets in round three before taking down California's 13th-ranked Florian Lakat in the quarterfinals. Sigsgaard fell to Ohio State's Hugo Di Feo in the semifinals, but he finished the event with 11 victories and earned his spot at the National Indoors by reaching the quarterfinals at the All-American.
Ito earned his trip to New York City via an at-large bid following his performance at the ITA Texas Regional Championships. The newcomer from Japan played the qualifying draw at the ITA All-American Championships and won all three of his matches to advance to the main singles draw alongside Sigsgaard.
Ito opened the All-American main draw with a straight-sets win over Oklahoma's 40th-ranked Alex Ghilea before knocking off USC's 48th-ranked Logan Smith in the second round. Florida's Alfredo Perez eliminated Ito from the round of 16, and Ito went on to reach the semifinals at the ITA Texas Regional Championships last month in Fort Worth.
Players Mentioned
