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CHARLOTTESVILLE — Play continued Friday at the ITA National Indoor Championships at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The day was highlighted for the Cavaliers by Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.), who won a pair of matches to advance to the backdraw semifinals.
In his first match of the day, Shabaz won a thriller over Pepperdine’s Bassam Beidas 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 (12-10). In that match, Shabaz faced a match point against at 10-9 in the third set breaker. In his second match of the day, he defeated Blake Strode of Arkansas 6-4, 6-4.
Also in the singles backdraw was Dominic Inglot (London, England). He topped Matt Hogan of Arkansas 6-4, 6-3 in his first match, but fell 6-4, 6-4 to Nate Schnugg of Georgia in the consolation quarterfinals.
In the main draw, Sanam Singh fell in the round of 16 to Bryan Koniecko of Ohio State 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2.
In doubles, the team of Singh and Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) fell in the quarterfinals to Robert Farah and Steve Johnson on USC 8-5. In the doubles backdraw, Inglot and Shabaz won their quarterfinal 8-4 over the team of Zimmerman and Landwerlen of Denver.
In the women’s round of 16, Jennifer Stevens (Miami, Fla) fell to No. 6 seed Fani Chifchieva of Auburn 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The Cavalier team of Amanda Rales (Bethesda, Md.) and Maggie Yahner (Las Vegas, Nev.) lost in the backdraw 8-3 to Niculescu and Sanchez of USC.
The tournament continues Saturday and runs through Sunday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. Admission is free.