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ROME, Ga. – After battling some early rain showers, the action quickly picked up from the courts of the Rome Tennis Center as play officially began from the 2023 ITA Cup. Bringing in the nation’s top players from the Division II, Division III, NAIA, and JUCO levels, today’s opening rounds of play saw players from the DII, DIII, and NAIA levels compete in one round of singles and doubles play.
Starting the day indoors, seeded players such as Ruben Fonga (Tiffin), Nicolas Cortes (Tennessee Wesleyan), Perry Gregg (Holy Cross), Teodora Jovic (Georgia Gwinnett), and Justine Lespes (Georgia Gwinnett) all got off to strong starts today, each advancing to the Quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Alizee Ripolles (Northwestern Ohio), Aleksa Ciric (Georgia Gwinnett), and Soufiane El Mesbahi (Keiser) all took down seeded opponents this morning from the indoor courts.
Catching up on the match schedule quickly once play resumed outdoors, the high level of play continued across over 30 courts at the Rome Tennis Center with the remainder of singles play hitting the courts before doubles play began in the afternoon.
In the remaining singles matches, several top seeds saw their run in the main draw come to an end as Adam Lynch (Barry), Dean Kamenev (Emory), Tyffaine Pais (UIndy), and Sarah Youngberg (Wesleyan) all took down seeded players in the opening round of play to continue their runs in the men’s and women’s singles draws.
Moving onto doubles, 48 matches took place on the day with many of the top teams from across college tennis squaring off in what was an afternoon full of excitement and high-level play.
On the women’s side, the only team to take down a seeded opponent on the day was Liliana Drukerova and Nicole Viljoen of Union College (KY). The duo took a 6-3, 6-2 victory over the No. 3 seeded NAIA pairing of Greefs and Kotylak of William Woods and will now move on to face Begona Benjumeda and Shalimar Talbi (SCAD) in tomorrow’s Quarterfinals.
For the men, four seeded teams were dethroned on the opening day of play. David Leon and Zoilo Rios (Tennessee Wesleyan), Soudiane El Mesbahi and Shaheed Alam (Keiser), Josh Christensen and Marco Siviero (Gustavus Adolphus), and Fernando Docters and Ramon Strassmann (Ouachita Baptist) were all teams who took down seeded teams on the day.
Play tomorrow kicks off once again at 9 a.m. (ET) from the Rome Tennis Center. For match times, court assignments, and much more, please follow along with the ITA Cup Event Page which will be updated frequently throughout the day.
