The field for this year’s Oracle/ITA Masters was announced today with 28 of 31 conferences sending a representative for the October 13-16 event in Malibu, California. The full selection criteria is here but in essence the top returning player from each conference was given the opportunity to participate with some accepting and others opting out. There was originally only supposed to be one wild card in each draw but there ended up being four due to the A10, Sun Belt, and SWAC not having a men’s representative while the Atlantic Sun, Horizon, and Mountain West didn’t have one on the women’s side.
Texas’s George Goldhoff, who finished last year ranked #40, was the Big 12 selection since last year’s POY Julian Lenz graduated and TCU’s Cameron Norrie and Alex Rybakov passed.
Texas A&M’s Arthur Rinderknech was the top returning player in the SEC as was Stanford’s Tom Fawcett in the Pac-12 while Georgia Tech’s Chris Eubanks was last year’s ACC POY.
Texas freshman Yuya Ito (14.69), Kentucky sophomore Ryotaro Matsumura (14.46), North Carolina freshman Sara Daavettilla (12.09), and UCLA freshman Ena Shibahara (12.10) earned their at-large selections due to their high Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR).
Men’s Singles (as of August 26, 2016)
| Player | School | Conference |
| Or Ram-Harel | Tulsa | American |
| Chris Eubanks | Georgia Tech | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Jack Findel-Hawkins | North Florida | Atlantic Sun |
| George Goldhoff | Texas | Big 12 |
| Robert Livi | St. John’s | Big East |
| Nathan Boneil | Portland State | Big Sky |
| Sam Matheson | Liberty | Big South |
| Alec Adamson | UC Davis | Big West |
| Juan Estevarena | College of Charleston | Colonial |
| Adam Moundir | Old Dominion | Conference USA |
| Jeffrey Schorsch | Valparaiso | Horizon League |
| Shawn Hadavi | Columbia | Ivy League |
| Kei Ezaka | Quinnipiac | Metro Atlantic |
| Stjepan Sisko | Toledo | Mid-American |
| Alex Chepik | Bethune-Cookman | Mid-Eastern |
| Vinny Gillespie | Drake | Missouri Valley |
| Jaime Barajas | Utah State | Mountain West |
| Eduardo Mena | Tennessee Tech | Ohio Valley |
| Arthur Rinderknech | Texas A&M | SEC |
| David Biosca | East Tennessee | Southern |
| Michael Feucht | Lamar | Southland |
| Diogo Rocha | Denver | Summit League |
| Michael Nguyen | Army | Patriot |
| Guilherme Hadlich | Pepperdine | West Coast |
| Airam Castellano | UMKC | WAC |
| Jacob Whalley | Fairleigh Dickinson | Northeast |
| Tom Fawcett | Stanford | Pac-12 |
| Gergely Madarasz | Purdue | Big Ten |
| Max Tchoutakian | Baylor | Oracle WC |
| Lautaro Pane | Pepperdine | Host Site WC |
| Yuya Ito | Texas | At-Large Selection |
| Ryotaro Matsumura | Kentucky | At-Large Selection |
The Mountain West didn’t send a representative after it’s POY Mayar Sherif Ahmed transferred from Fresno State to Long Beach State.
Women’s Singles (as of August 26, 2016)
| Player | School | Conference |
| Ksenia Laskutova | Tulsa | American |
| Aspen Cervin | Saint Louis | Atlantic 10 |
| Hayley Carter | North Carolina | Atlantic Coast Conference |
| Katarina Adamovic | Oklahoma State | Big 12 |
| Sydney Liggins | Xavier | Big East |
| Marianna Petrei | Idaho | Big Sky |
| Lauren Proctor | Winthrop | Big South |
| Francesca Di Lorenzo | Ohio State | Big Ten |
| Maeva Razakasoa | Long Beach State | Big West |
| Liza Fieldsend | College of Charleston | Colonial |
| Katherine Ip | Rice | Conference USA |
| Kana Daniel | Penn | Ivy League |
| Sitilia Rencheli | Quinnipiac | Metro Atlantic |
| Ariadna Blinova | Akron | Mid-American |
| MIna Matsuba | Bethune-Cookman | Mid-Eastern |
| Gabriela Porubin | Wichita State | Missouri Valley |
| Lidia Yanes Garcia | Austin Peay | Ohio Valley |
| Ellen Perez | Georgia | SEC |
| Ansley Speaks | Furman | Southern |
| Lucile Pothier | Abilene Christian | Southland |
| Marine Cartier | Alabama State | Southwestern |
| Julia O’Laughlin | Denver | Summit League |
| Alexandria Stiteler | South Alabama | Sun Belt |
| Sabrina Faybyshev | Boston | Patriot League |
| Rimpledeep Kaur | New Mexico State | WAC |
| Luisa Stefani | Pepperdine | West Coast Conference |
| Shreya Pasricha | Fairleigh Dickinson | Northeast |
| Taylor Davidson | Stanford | Pac-12 |
| Blair Shankle | Baylor | Oracle WC |
| Laura Gulbe | Pepperdine | Host Site WC |
| Sara Daavetilla | North Carolina | At-Large Selection |
| Ena Shibahara | UCLA | At-Large Selection |
John Isner looked like he was in serious trouble against Frances Tiafoe but he battled back from two sets down to win 7-6(3) in the fifth. Isner trailed 3-1 in the third set tiebreak but rallied to take it 7-5. Isner got broke to go down 5-3 in the fifth but he broke back from 30/40 and then held from 40/15 to even it at 5-5. Isner led the fifth set tiebreak start to finish to move on to the second round.
Both Mackenzie McDonald and Saketh Myneni had two set leads on their opponents but unfortunately neither was able to close the door. Myneni led 5-2 in the fifth and had a match point at 30/40 but the chair overturned a double fault and Vesely ended up holding and then pulled away from the badly cramping Myneni.
CiCi Bellis, 2017 Stanford commit, was the only female winner of the three player with college ties (potential). After the match during her interview she was asked whether she would still go to college at Stanford – she said she plans on going though her criteria for making that decision has changed from the past.
Men’s First Round
#22 [20] John Isner (Georgia ’07) def. #124 [WC] Frances Tiafoe 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3)
#25 [23] Kevin Anderson (Illinois ’07) def. #86 Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 7-5, 6-4
#227 [Q] Jan Satral def. #412 [WC] Mackenzie McDonald (UCLA ’16) 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2
#48 Jiri Vesely def. #143 [Q] Saketh Myneni (Alabama ’10) 7-6(5), 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5
#21 [19] Steve Johnson (USC ’12) vs. #79 Evgeny Donskoy – 5:30 pm (4th/Gstand)
#105 [WC] Rajeev Ram (Illinois ’03) vs. #67 Daniel Evans – 11:00 am (1st/Ct. 4)
#97 Benjamin Becker (Baylor ’05) vs. #7 [6] Kei Nishikori – 11:00 am (1st/Gstand)
Men’s Second Round
#22 [20] John Isner (Georgia ’07) vs. #108 Steve Darcis
#25 [23] Kevin Anderson (Illinois ’07) vs. #123 Vasek Pospisil
Women’s First Round
#102 Evgeniya Rodina def. [WC] Danielle Collins (Virginia ’16) 6-1, 6-2
#67 Cagla Buyukakcay def. #74 Irinia Falconi (Georgia Tech ’10) 6-2, 6-1
#158 [Q] Catherine Bellis (’17 Stanford cmt) def. #65 Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-3
#723 [WC] Ellen Perez (Georgia Jr) vs. #49 Shuai Zhang – 12:30 pm (2nd/Ct. 9)
#72 Nicole Gibbs (Stanford ’13) vs. #153 [Q] Aleksandra Krunic – 1:00 pm (2nd/Ct. 6)
Women’s Second Round
#158 [Q] Catherine Bellis (’17 Stanford cmt) vs. #55 Shelby Rogers
Latest Comments