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The field for this year’s Oracle/ITA Masters was announced today with 28 of 31 conferences sending a representative for the October 13-16 event in Malibu, California. The full selection criteria is here but in essence the top returning player from each conference was given the opportunity to participate with some accepting and others opting out. There was originally only supposed to be one wild card in each draw but there ended up being four due to the A10, Sun Belt, and SWAC not having a men’s representative while the Atlantic Sun, Horizon, and Mountain West didn’t have one on the women’s side.

Several of the higher ranked Big Ten guys must have passed because Mikael Torpegaard (POY), Aleks Vukic, Konrad Zieba, Sam Shropshire, and Hugo Di Feo were all ranked higher than Purdue’s Gergely Madarasz.

Texas’s George Goldhoff, who finished last year ranked #40, was the Big 12 selection since last year’s POY Julian Lenz graduated and TCU’s Cameron Norrie and Alex Rybakov passed.

Texas A&M’s Arthur Rinderknech was the top returning player in the SEC as was Stanford’s Tom Fawcett in the Pac-12 while Georgia Tech’s Chris Eubanks was last year’s ACC POY.

Texas freshman Yuya Ito (14.69), Kentucky sophomore Ryotaro Matsumura (14.46), North Carolina freshman Sara Daavettilla (12.09), and UCLA freshman Ena Shibahara (12.10) earned their at-large selections due to their high Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR).

 

Men’s Singles (as of August 26, 2016)

Player School Conference
Or Ram-Harel Tulsa American
Chris Eubanks Georgia Tech Atlantic Coast Conference
Jack Findel-Hawkins North Florida Atlantic Sun
George Goldhoff Texas Big 12
Robert Livi St. John’s Big East
Nathan Boneil Portland State Big Sky
Sam Matheson Liberty Big South
Alec Adamson UC Davis Big West
Juan Estevarena College of Charleston Colonial
Adam Moundir Old Dominion Conference USA
Jeffrey Schorsch Valparaiso Horizon League
Shawn Hadavi Columbia Ivy League
Kei Ezaka Quinnipiac Metro Atlantic
Stjepan Sisko Toledo Mid-American
Alex Chepik Bethune-Cookman Mid-Eastern
Vinny Gillespie Drake Missouri Valley
Jaime Barajas Utah State Mountain West
Eduardo Mena Tennessee Tech Ohio Valley
Arthur Rinderknech Texas A&M SEC
David Biosca East Tennessee Southern
Michael Feucht Lamar Southland
Diogo Rocha Denver Summit League
Michael Nguyen Army Patriot
Guilherme Hadlich Pepperdine West Coast
Airam Castellano UMKC WAC
Jacob Whalley Fairleigh Dickinson Northeast
Tom Fawcett Stanford Pac-12
Gergely Madarasz Purdue Big Ten
Max Tchoutakian Baylor Oracle WC
Lautaro Pane Pepperdine Host Site WC
Yuya Ito Texas At-Large Selection
Ryotaro Matsumura Kentucky At-Large Selection

 

Just about all the top returning female players in each of the Power 5 conferences elected to participate with Hayley Carter, Luisa Stefani, Francesca Di Lorenzo, Ellen Perez, and Katarina Adamovic representing the ACC, WCC, B1G, SEC, and B12. It looks like the one exception was in the Pac-12 where Stanford’s Taylor Davidson got the nod even though Cal’s Maegan Manasse was the conference POY and top returning player

The Mountain West didn’t send a representative after it’s POY Mayar Sherif Ahmed transferred from Fresno State to Long Beach State.

 

Women’s Singles (as of August 26, 2016)

 

Player School Conference
Ksenia Laskutova Tulsa American
Aspen Cervin Saint Louis Atlantic 10
Hayley Carter North Carolina Atlantic Coast Conference
Katarina Adamovic Oklahoma State Big 12
Sydney Liggins Xavier Big East
Marianna Petrei Idaho Big Sky
Lauren Proctor Winthrop Big South
Francesca Di Lorenzo Ohio State Big Ten
Maeva Razakasoa Long Beach State Big West
Liza Fieldsend College of Charleston Colonial
Katherine Ip Rice Conference USA
Kana Daniel Penn Ivy League
Sitilia Rencheli Quinnipiac Metro Atlantic
Ariadna Blinova Akron Mid-American
MIna Matsuba Bethune-Cookman Mid-Eastern
Gabriela Porubin Wichita State Missouri Valley
Lidia Yanes Garcia Austin Peay Ohio Valley
Ellen Perez Georgia SEC
Ansley Speaks Furman Southern
Lucile Pothier Abilene Christian Southland
Marine Cartier Alabama State Southwestern
Julia O’Laughlin Denver Summit League
Alexandria Stiteler South Alabama Sun Belt
Sabrina Faybyshev Boston Patriot League
Rimpledeep Kaur New Mexico State WAC
Luisa Stefani Pepperdine West Coast Conference
Shreya Pasricha Fairleigh Dickinson Northeast
Taylor Davidson Stanford Pac-12
Blair Shankle Baylor Oracle WC
Laura Gulbe Pepperdine Host Site WC
Sara Daavetilla North Carolina At-Large Selection
Ena Shibahara UCLA At-Large Selection

 

John Isner looked like he was in serious trouble against Frances Tiafoe but he battled back from two sets down to win 7-6(3) in the fifth. Isner trailed 3-1 in the third set tiebreak but rallied to take it 7-5. Isner got broke to go down 5-3 in the fifth but he broke back from 30/40 and then held from 40/15 to even it at 5-5. Isner led the fifth set tiebreak start to finish to move on to the second round.

Both Mackenzie McDonald and Saketh Myneni had two set leads on their opponents but unfortunately neither was able to close the door. Myneni led 5-2 in the fifth and had a match point at 30/40 but the chair overturned a double fault and Vesely ended up holding and then pulled away from the badly cramping Myneni.

CiCi Bellis, 2017 Stanford commit, was the only female winner of the three player with college ties (potential). After the match during her interview she was asked whether she would still go to college at Stanford – she said she plans on going though her criteria for making that decision has changed from the past.

Men’s First Round 
#22 [20] John Isner (Georgia ’07) def. #124 [WC] Frances Tiafoe 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3)
#25 [23] Kevin Anderson (Illinois ’07) def. #86 Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
#227 [Q] Jan Satral def. #412 [WC] Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA ’16) 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
#48 Jiri Vesely def. #143 [Q] Saketh Myneni (Alabama ’10) 7-6(5), 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5

#21 [19] Steve Johnson (USC ’12) vs. #79 Evgeny Donskoy – 5:30 pm (4th/Gstand)
#105 [WC] Rajeev Ram (Illinois ’03) vs. #67 Daniel Evans – 11:00 am (1st/Ct. 4)
#97 Benjamin Becker (Baylor ’05) vs. #7 [6] Kei Nishikori – 11:00 am (1st/Gstand)

Men’s Second Round
#22 [20] John Isner (Georgia ’07) vs. #108 Steve Darcis
#25 [23] Kevin Anderson (Illinois ’07) vs. #123 Vasek Pospisil

Women’s First Round
#102 Evgeniya Rodina def. [WC] Danielle Collins (Virginia ’16) 6-1, 6-2
#67 Cagla Buyukakcay def. #74 Irinia Falconi (Georgia Tech ’10) 6-2, 6-1
#158 [Q] Catherine Bellis (’17 Stanford cmt) def. #65 Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-3

#723 [WC] Ellen Perez (Georgia Jr) vs. #49 Shuai Zhang – 12:30 pm (2nd/Ct. 9)
#72 Nicole Gibbs (Stanford ’13) vs. #153 [Q] Aleksandra Krunic – 1:00 pm (2nd/Ct. 6)

Women’s Second Round
#158 [Q] Catherine Bellis (’17 Stanford cmt) vs. #55 Shelby Rogers