Florida Gators
ITA All-American
Qualifying Rounds Begin For Men's Tennis At ITA All-American
Monday, October 4, 2004 | Men's Tennis
The University of Florida men's tennis team picked up four singles victories and one in the doubles as well as qualifying rounds at the 2004 Icy Hot/Men's All-American Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn., began on Monday.
Newcomer's Nestor Briceno and Greg Ouellette along with redshirt junior Chris Brandi made their first appearances of the tournament in the singles draw. Each of the Gators picked up a win in the qualifying round of 128 as did sophomore Martin Stiegwardt who made it five in a row after advancing past the prequalifying round, which started last Friday.
Briceno outlasted Nebraska's Adiran Szatmary 3-6; 7-6(9); 6-1 as he moved on to face Duke's Peter Rodrigues. Brandi picked up his win in straight sets with a 6-2, 6-1 decision over Georgia Tech's Jose Murguruza, while Ouellette won in the same fashion with a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Michigan's Brian Hung. Brandi will next play Illinois' Monte Tucker, while Ouellette will face Ole Miss' Eric Claesson. Stiegwardt also won in two sets as he posted a 6-3, 6-2 win in his match against Indiana's Ryan Recht. He will match up against Oklahoma's Ondrej Fukala in the qualifying round of 64 on Tuesday.
Ouellette's success continued in the afternoon when he paired with junior Janne Holmia in the doubles qualifying round of 128. The duo defeated Arkansas Matt Simpson and Rohan Gajjar, 8-6. On Tuesday, they will play Armando Carrascosa and Daniel Jung of San Diego State.
The Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships include 192-singles player and 96-doubles team prequalifying tournaments played October 1-3 which fed into 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments October 4-6. The 64-player, 32-doubles team main draw takes place Oct. 7-10. The singles tournament fields can run over 350 players, making it the largest collegiate event of the season.
The Icy Hot/ ITA Men's All-American Championships offer the first national singles and doubles titles of the season, and are followed by the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the third event is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May. All told, 46 of the top 50 players in the preseason ITA singles rankings are competing in this year's main draw.
2004 Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships
Chattanooga, Tenn.
Singles Qualifying (Round of 128)
Nestor Briceno (UF) def. Adrian Szatmary (Nebraska), 3-6; 7-6(9); 6-1
Chris Brandi (UF) def. Jose Murguruza (Georgia Tech), 6-2, 6-1
Greg Ouellette (UF) def. Brian Hung (Michigan); 6-1; 6-0
Martin Stiegwardt (UF) def. Ryan Recht (Indiana); 6-3; 6-2
Doubles Qualifying (Round of 128)
Jonathan Kinsella/Clint Letcher (Arizona State) def. Vladimir Obradovic/Ryan Sherry (UF), 8-2
Janne Holmia/Greg Ouellette (UF) def. Rohan Gajjar/Matt Simpson (Ark.), 8-6
Thomas Schoeck/Luke Shields (Ball St.) def. Stefan Tell/Martin Stiegwardt (UF), 8-5
