University tennis has started again in our neighbors to the south!
The fall portion of the NCAA schedule is devoted to tournaments, so the format more closely resembles that of the professional circuit, with players moving from location to location, competing in normal single-elimination brackets.
Here is the latest news from Canadians playing on the NCAA circuit.
Regional championships
The regional championships are one of the tournaments on the calendar, and it is during these events that our Canadians have had the most success.
Mélodie Collard of the University of Virginia had the best performance at the Women’s Atlantic Regional Championships in Division 1, winning the doubles title with Elaine Chervinsky. The tandem lost only 19 games in five matches, notably winning their quarter-final by a score of 8-0 (doubles matches before the semi-finals are pro 8 (first team to win 8 games). final, Collard and Chervinsky got the better of their teammates Margaret Navarro and Sara Ziodato in two sets of 6-4 and 6-1.
Annabelle Xu, also of the University of Virginia, was the singles favorite and reached the final four before falling to Ozlem Uslu of Virginia Tech.
Read also: Diallo enters the Top 100 after his final in Almaty
On the other side of the continent, during the Northwest Regional Championships, two Canadians from the University of Washington stood out.
Reece Carter, who started the season ranked 60th in women’s singles, took part in the semi-final. Her journey was not easy, as she had to play three rounds in the second and third rounds as well as in the quarter-final after losing the initial round in two of these duels. She finally lacked energy against the favorite Connie Ma, from Stanford.
Read also: Sebov sets out to defend his title in Saguenay
In doubles, Carter and her compatriot Alexia Jacobs were the favorites in the draw. They reached the semi-finals losing only six games (in three pro 8s) before losing 10-7 in the super decisive game of the final four against the fourth seeds.
All-American Championships
The first major tournament, the ITA All-American Championships, took place in late September.
Once again, it was in doubles that the Canadians posted their best performances. Thus, Jessica Alsola, from the University of California at Berkeley, took part in the semi-final with Mao Mushika. In the first round, they upset third-seeded Ohio State University in two sets.
They won two more matches before losing to UCLA’s Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle.
Hance and Wagle were real thorns in the Canadians’ side, as they saw off Carter and Jacobs in the quarterfinals, before defeating Alsola in the next round.
The Canadian duo from the University of Washington opened the tournament by defeating the favored Oklahoma State University in the first round, then got the better of a team from the University of South Carolina before fall in the quarter-finals.
Lire: A look back at Rafael Nadal’s five titles at the National Bank Open
Collard and Chervinsky were the second seeds, but they lost in the second round.
The singles did not favor the Canadians, since only two of the six players present won a match before being eliminated, namely Collard and Xu.
On the men’s side, Jaden Weekes had a good run. Although he was eliminated in the second round of singles, he won six matches in this tournament. Indeed, the Kentucky Wildcat player passed the prequalification stage, then the qualifying stage without losing a single round in five matches before reaching the main draw.
Weekes then came back from a one-set deficit to defeat Pedro Rodenas of Duke University before losing to Craig Corey of Florida State University.
Click here to view the Canadians’ NCAA rankings.
