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Memphis, TN – After much anticipation and high-level qualifying tournaments in part of the ITA Summer Series, the apex of the summer season, the ITA National Summer Championships powered by WTN, have finally gotten underway from the Leftwich Family Tennis Center today in Memphis, Tennessee.
Featuring a 32-player men’s and women’s singles draw and a 16-team men’s and women’s doubles draw, competing athletes are playing for $20,000 in total prize money, ITA All-American Championship wild cards, and USTA Pro Circuit wild cards over the next few days.
Beginning in singles play, all eight of the men’s seeded players advanced past the opening round of play today. Defending champion, and top seed, Kenta Miyoshi (Illinois) started his championship defence with a dominant 6-1, 6-4 win over Luke Bracks (Wichita State). The second seed, and last year’s runner-up, James Connel (Florida State) earned a 6-1, 6-0 victory in his opening round match to advance to the round of sixteen.
Other seeded players who advanced in today’s men’s singles opening round include Lucas Brown (Texas), Patorn Hanchaikul (Michigan), Sean Daryabeigi (South Carolina), Oskar Poulsen (Baylor), Marko Miladinovic (Baylor), and Harry Rock (Memphis).
In women’s singles, seven of the eight seeded players earned victories on the opening day of play. Like Miyoshi, Michigan’s Lily Jones is back to defend her crown as the tournament’s top seed, fighting off a strong effort from Micah Pierce (Tulane) to advance in the main draw. Meanwhile, Addison Lanton was the lone player to take down a seed today as she won 7-5, 6-1 over the second-seeded Emma Jackson (Duke).
The remaining seeds of Elana Yu (Duke), Taylor Cataldi (Wisconsin), Ellie Pittman (SMU), Reese Miller (Michigan), Kaitlyn Carnicella (South Carolina), and Zuzanna Kubacha (Baylor) were all victorious in the opening round of the women’s singles draw.
Doubles play saw just seven matches played on the opening day of competition with the women’s doubles draw having six matches on day one and the men’s doubles draw having just one match.
The biggest upset of the day came from Ellison Reynoldson and Ariel Johnson of Wisconsin as the pairing bested the tournament’s fourth-seeded team in the round of sixteen to advance to the quarterfinals. The Baylor teams of Gibbs & Berry as well as Littell & Kubacha also had a good opening day, both advancing in straight sets to the quarterfinals.
Play from the Leftwich Tennis Center will continue tomorrow as the singles round of 16 and quarterfinals are played. Doubles play will feature just quarterfinal matches placed between the two rounds of singles matches. Fans can watch the matches through TrackTennis or follow the action on the ITA website or ITA social media accounts.
