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TULSA, Okla. – Cavalier sophomore Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) won a pair of matches Thursday to advance to the round of 16 of the ITA All-America Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. Shabaz topped a pair of higher ranked foes, including an upset of the nation’s No. 2 ranked player in the second round.
No. 104 ranked Shabaz opened play with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Harvard’s No. 69 ranked Chris Clayton in the first round. He followed that with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 2 seed Denes Lukacs of Baylor. It was the highest ranked opponent that Shabaz has beaten in his career. He will meet No. 14 Bruno Rosa of Rice in the round of 16 Friday.
Three other Cavaliers were also in action on Thursday. Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) defeated Raony Carvalho of Texas Tech 6-3, 6-4 in the first round, but had to retire in the third set of his second round match against Rudolph Siwy of Fresno State. Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) lost his first round match to Ole Miss’ Bram ten Berge 6-4, 6-4, but rebounded for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 win over Alberto Sottoomo of Tulsa in the first round of the backdraw. He will meet UCLA’s Holden Seguso in the second round of the backdraw on Friday. Dominic Inglot (London, England) suffered a first round loss to Wil Spencer of Texas Tech, 6-2, 6-1 and fell to Gary Sacks of USC, 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the backdraw.
In the first round of doubles, the team of Singh and Barrick topped the team of Ross Cunningham and Victor Kolik of Tulsa 8-6. They will play No. 4 seed Austin Krajicek and Conor Pollock of Texas A&M in the second round on Friday.
The ITA All-America Championships run through Sunday at the University of Tulsa.