Three Cavaliers Advance in All-American Main Draw

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TULSA, Okla. – The Virginia men’s tennis team had three singles players and one doubles team advance on day one of main draw play at the ITA All-American Championships on the campus of the University of Tulsa. Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India), Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) and Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) won in singles, while the team of Shabaz and Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) won in doubles.

Singh, the No. 9 seed in the 64-player draw, won a thrilling come-from-behind match against No. 30 ranked Austin Krajicek of Texas A&M, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3). Singh was down a break twice in the final set and fought off a pair of matches points against him when Krajicek was serving for the match at 5-3 in the third. Singh won the final set in a tiebreaker and advances to meet Jay Goldman of Arizona in the second round Friday.

Shabaz, the No. 13 seed, also rallied from losing the first set, topping Robin Fahgen of SMU 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. He will play Jeff Dadamo of Texas A&M in the second round.

Courtney, who advanced to the main draw through qualifying opened main draw play with the biggest win of his career, topping No. 11 seed Austin Childs of Louisville, 6-2, 6-1. He meets Alex Lacroix of Florida in round two. Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) also reached the main draw through qualifying, but lost in the first round to Ed Corrie of Texas, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. He meets Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech in the backdraw on Friday.

In doubles, the team of Shabaz and Barrick topped the USC duo of Matt Kecki and Jaak Poldma 8-5 in the opening round. They play Cal’s Pedro Zerbini and Jonathan Dahan in the second round on Friday. Courtney and Singer, who reached the main draw through qualifying, lost to Auburn’s Tim Puetz and Alex Stamchev 8-5 in the first round.