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Oct. 9, 2003
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Virginia men’s tennis second year Doug Stewart (Malibu, Calif.) advanced to the round of 16 at the Icy Hot/Ita All-America Championships with a pair of wins Thursday at the Champions Club in Chattanooga. Stewart becomes the first Cavalier to reach the round of 16 at the prestigious event since Brian Vahaly reached the quarterfinals in 2000.
In the first round of the main draw on Thursday morning, Stewart, ranked No. 26 in the 2003 preseason rankings, advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Andreas Laulund of Virginia Tech, who is ranked No. 57. In the round of 32 on Thursday afternoon, Stewart upset the No. 9 seed Catalin Gard of Ole Miss. Gard, ranked No. 10 in the rankings, had to retire with an injury after Stewart won the first set in a tiebreaker.
“Doug played two very good matches today,” said Virginia assistant coach Tony Bresky. “He has worked hard over the summer and this fall and results like today come from that hard work.”
Stewart will play tournament’s No. 6 seed, Michael Kogan of Tulane in the round of 16 on Friday morning. Kogan won a pair of three-set matches on Thursday to advance.
The Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships are held annually and is the first of three annual national tournaments conducted by the ITA. After five days of qualifying matches, the 64-player main draw started Thursday featuring 36 of the top 40 players in the ITA preseason singles rankings.