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Men’s Pre-Qualifying Draw | Women’s Pre-Qualifying Draw
Tempe, AZ – The Intercollegiate Tennis Association “ITA” has announced today the pre-qualifying draws for the ITA Women’s All-American Championships and ITA Men’s All-American Championships which are scheduled to get underway this Saturday.
Featuring draws of 128 players for singles and 32 teams for doubles, pre-qualifying play will continue through Sunday, September 22 at which point the 16 singles players and eight teams advancing to the qualifying draw will have been determined.
With all players looking to win their way into the qualifying draw and from there the main draw, the field of competitors is as strong as ever with many players who made a big impact for their teams in the 2023-24 season looking to start this new campaign off on the right foot.
In the men’s draw, names such as Bryce Nakashima (Ohio State), Togan Tokac (Texas A&M), Jelani Sarr (South Carolina), Niccolo Baroni (Mississippi State), and Oscar Lacides (Oklahoma) will all be looking to win three matches over the opening two days of play to keep their championship hopes alive.
As returners, Nakashima (6.0 WTN), Tokac (5.9 WTN), and Sarr (6.0 WTN) all enter the 2024-25 season ranked in the top 125 of the August 27th, ITA Preseason Singles Rankings. Each will be looking to take their game to the next level this season and continue to improve their national ranking over the fall season.
Meanwhile, Baroni and Lacides enter the All-American Championships as two of the top ten newcomers in the country. Baroni, who enrolls as a 20-year-old at Mississippi State from Italy, carries a 6.0 WTN into the Championship, while Lacides, who hails from Guadeloupe, begins his collegiate career with an impressive 6.5 WTN.
Across the women’s draw, many top newcomers are set to get their first shot at an ITA Championship as Malak El Allami (Columbia), Talia Neilson-Gatenby (Florida), Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo (Texas), and Kate Fakih (UCLA) will all be in Pre-Qualifying play.
El Allami (14.5 WTN) will head to Cary fresh from a Grand Slam Junior Doubles Title, winning the US Open Girl’s Doubles Draw alongside Emily Sartz-Lunde (Michigan) just a few weeks ago. Neilson-Gatenby (12.6 WTN), Anazagasty-Pursoo (13.7 WTN), and Fakih (13.9 WTN), all enter the All-American Championships as top newcomers in the Preseason Newcomer Rankings.
Some men’s doubles-seeded teams include, Arthus de la Bassetiere/Kabeer Kapasi (Rice) (1), Maxime St-Hilaire/Frank Thompson (Virginia Tech) (2), Luis Carlos Alvarez Valdes/Khololwam Montsi (Oklahoma) (3), Rudy Quan/Aadarsh Tripathi (UCLA) (4).
In the women’s doubles draw, some of the top-seeded teams include Valeria Ray/Bridget Stammel (Vanderbilt) (1), Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo/Carmen Andreea Herea (Texas) (2), Gracie Mulville/Heike Janse Van Vuuren (Kansas) (3), and Florentine Dekkers/Gaby Rivera (LSU) (4).
For those interested in learning more about the upcoming ITA All-American Championships, please explore the Men’s All-American event page and the Women’s All-American event page to learn more. We also encourage you to subscribe to the ITA on YouTube to watch Cracked Racquets coverage beginning with main draw play, as well as following the ITA on social media.
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