After a full day of thrilling matches, there will be an All-American men’s final for the second consecutive year at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Players battled through several days of grueling matches to stand out among the best collegiate talent in the nation.
Top-seeded Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.), a freshman from the University of Virginia, had no problem dispatching No. 5 seed Henrique Cunha (France), a senior from Duke, 6-2, 6-3, in one semifinal. In Sunday’s final, Frank, who has already won the ITA All-American Championships in his budding collegiate career, will face No. 8 seed Dennis Nevolo (Gurnee, Ill.), a senior at the University of Illinois. Nevolo defeated fellow senior Eric Quigley (Peewee Valley, Ky.) of the University of Kentucky, 7-5, 6-4, in a thrilling match that featured just two breaks of serve in the match.
Frank and Nevolo last met in the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American Championships in September in a match that was marred by controversy when Nevolo received multiple point penalties after taking too much time on a restroom break.
Following his tough semifinal loss, three-time ITA All-American Quigley was honored with the 2011 USTA/ITA Sportsmanship Award. "It means a lot," Quigley said of the award. "It was a tough day today. Nevolo played well. But this makes up for it a little bit. It's always good to win a sportsmanship award. It means a lot that they think highly of me."
Tomorrow’s women’s singles final will pit University of Florida senior Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) against unseeded senior Marta Lesniak (Poland) of Southern Methodist. Mather continued her strong run through the draw, defeating Stanford sophomore Nicole Gibbs (Santa Monica, Calif.), 6-4, 6-2.
This is Mather’s first appearance at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, and it has been quite a run for her.
"I can’t believe it, I am so excited," said Mather. "My first time here, and I get to the finals -- it’s kind of like a dream. Hopefully tomorrow I play just as well as I did today. We will see what happens."
Lesniak took out University of Washington senior Denise Dy (San Jose, Calif.) in the day’s lone three-set match, winning 7-6 (2), 1-6, 6-2. Dy had reached the semifinals by defeating reigning NCAA champion Jana Juricova of Cal-Berkeley in three sets in Friday’s quarterfinals. She was also honored with this year’s 2011 USTA/ITA Sportsmanship Award.
The men’s doubles final will pit Tulsa against Ohio State, while the women’s final will pit Notre Dame against Southern Cal. The doubles finals will start on 10 a.m. ET, followed by the singles finals at 12 p.m. ET.
To live chat during the matches, visit:
http://www.usta.com/Multimedia-Interactive/live_chat/
To view live scores, visit:
http://www.gocolumbialions.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205326803&DB_OEM_ID=9600.
2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Flushing, N.Y.
Surface: Hard-Indoor
Saturday, November 5 – RESULTS:
Men’s Singles – Main Draw Semifinals
[1] Mitchell Frank (Virginia) def. [5] Henrique Cunha (Duke) 6-2, 6-3
[8] Dennis Nevolo (Illinois) def. [4] Eric Quigley (Kentucky) 7-5, 6-4
Women’s Singles – Main Draw Semifinals
Marta Lesniak (SMU) def. [5-8] Denise Dy (Washington) 7-6(2), 1-6, 6-4
Joanna Mather (Florida) def. [2] Nicole Gibbs (Stanford) 6-4, 6-2
Men’s Doubles – Main Draw Semifinals
[3] C. Marsland/A. Watling (Tulsa) def. B. Federhofer/N. Slilam (Florida) 6-3, 7-5
[2] C. Buchanan/B. Rola (Ohio State) def. [4] N. Andrews/C. Konigsfeldt (California) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
Women’s Doubles – Main Draw Semifinals
[3] K. Frilling/S. Mathews (Notre Dame) def. [1] M. Burdette/N. Gibbs (Stanford) 7-5, 7-6(4)
K. Christian/S. Santamaria (USC) def. [4] N. Hamilton/L. Mushrefova (Northwestern) 6-2, 6-3