North Carolina sophomore William Blumberg captured the 2017 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Championship on Monday morning with a straight set win over UCLA senior Martin Redlicki. Blumberg was dominant on his serve with the sophomore winning 77% of the points on serve while only facing one break point. Redlicki served fairly well but he had a few tough games and that was the difference in the match.
Redlicki started off the match with a no-ad hold but Blumberg took the next three games with a pair of 40/15 holds and a break from 30/40 after Redlicki netted a forehand. After Redlicki held for 2-3, he had a break opportunity on the no-ad point but his service return was just long which made it 4-2 Blumberg. It’d be all holds the rest of the set though Redlicki fought off a set point on his 3-5 service game with a service winner on the no-ad point. Blumberg closed out the set with a hold from 40/15 to take it 6-4.
Redlicki had a rough first two games of the second set with one unforced error after another giving Blumberg a love break and a love hold to make it 2-0. Neither player would face a break point the rest of the way with Blumberg only dropping six points on serve and he’d close it out with a hold from 40/15 to win it 6-4, 6-4. The ITA will probably have a clip of match point but here is a clip from UNC’s Twitter that shows Blumberg tracking down a drop shot with a dropper of his own to win it.
— UNC Men’s Tennis (@carolinatennis) October 9, 2017
Quotes from UNC’s recap
“It’s great company to be in – that’s a tough tournament to win,” UNC coach Sam Paul said. “Will has done a lot of work off the court, put in a lot of training and preparation, and he saw it pay off this weekend.
“And it’s a tremendous accomplishment for Robert and Will to make the finals in doubles. I’m happy for both of those guys.”
“I’ve been training hard on and off the court so to get this win means a lot to me,” Blumberg said. “My body felt great and I held up well. I’ve been working really hard and it’s good to see it pay off. “
Quotes from UCLA’s recap:
“Played really strong tennis today,” Redlicki said. “Could’ve played a little bit better, but William played really well. He earned it and just outplayed me in the big moments.”
“[I’m] proud of myself for having an unbelievably good week this week,” Redlicki said. “Getting some wins over guys Top 10 in the country, and just great players in general the whole week.”
“Really happy that I was able to end my ITA All-American career with a final and a lot of positives to build on,” Redlicki concluded. “I’m really looking forward to what’s to come this season.”
Singles Finals
[4] William Blumberg (North Carolina 14.78) def. [9-16] Martin Redlicki (UCLA 14.48) 6-4, 6-4
A few ? from @alfredoperez997 and @ingildsen2 doubles championship at the @ITA_Tennis
All-American #GoGators #TulsaITA #ITAAllAmerican pic.twitter.com/C7kXIOtjk7— Gators Men’s Tennis (@GatorsMTN) October 9, 2017
Florida’s Johannes Ingildsen (Soph) and Alfredo Perez (Jr) won the doubles title with a close three set win over North Carolina’s William Blumberg (Soph) and Robert Kelly (Sr). The doubles final was the second match of the day for both Blumberg and Ingildsen with Ingildsen winning the consolation singles title over Texas A&M’s Valentin Vacherot 6-4, 6-4.
Ingildsen and Perez won the opening set in a tiebreak but Blumberg and Kelly took the second 6-3 to force a winner-take-all third set supertiebreak. Ingildsen and Perez raced out to an 8-3 lead but Blumberg and Kelly closed to within 8-6. Florida took the next point, with an Ingildsen backhand winner from point blank range, to go up 9-6 but UNC argued that Ingildsen’s racquet came over the net on his swing. Play was stopped for a good two minutes while Blumberg and Kelly stated their case but the chair said the call stood. Blumberg and Kelly fought off one match point to make it 9-7 but a Perez service winner closed it out.
Quotes from Florida’s recap
“It felt very good to be able to win this tournament with Joe,” Alfredo Perez said. “I think we played well and smart the whole way through the tournament. Today was a great match and we knew we had to play some great tennis because Kelly and Blumberg very good doubles player.”
“It was a great experience to win this tournament,” Johannes Ingildsen said. “There were so many tough teams and we just proved that we are one of toughest teams in college. I have a lot of confidence in Alfredo on the court and we believe in ourselves in the big moments. Hopefully we can use the confidence from this win throughout the season and just keep improving.”
Coach Bryan Shelton – “Could not be more proud of our guys today and all week. Joe and Freddy were so good today. They raised the level of their play in the tie breakers again against a very strong team in Kelly and Blumberg from UNC. This tournament is very prestigious and I’m so happy with how our team represented the Gator Nation. Loved the way we finished.”
Quotes from UNC’s recap
“It was cool to be here,” Kelly said. “I got to bring the energy as Will was making his incredible singles run. We played some good tennis out here and hopefully we’ll finish the fall with a good showing in California.”
Doubles Final
[4] Johannes Ingildsen/Alfredo Perez (Florida) def. [3] William Blumberg/Robert Kelly (North Carolina) 7-6(6), 3-6, 10-7
A few ? from @ingildsen2 consolation finals victory! #GoGators #TulsaITA #ITAAllAmerican pic.twitter.com/TThaLegT2H
— Gators Men’s Tennis (@GatorsMTN) October 9, 2017
Coach Shelton – “Joe was tough again in his singles match. He did not serve his best today, but he continued to compete at a very high level against another tough opponent. So proud of the improvements he has made in just over one year. His mentality is one of an absolute warrior.”
Consolation Finals
Johannes Ingildsen (Florida 14.05) def Valentin Vacherot (Texas A&M 13.96) 6-4, 6-4
Full results from all men’s matches along with consolation draws can be found here.
The first two of the men's ITA Regionals start this weekend-the Carolina and Southeast region. Is seeding and selection done first by national ITA, then regional ITA, and then UTR or do coaches get to nominate a top player or two from their school from MMs instead of UTR? Each region can be different right? I think last year some had 128 MD, some had 64 quali then 64 MD and some just had one 64 MD.I saw this year at least one of the women's had 48 in MD so all the seeds had byes in the first round-hope the men's MDs stay at 64 at least to give some opportunity to freshmen and lesser known players…Is the regional ranking list only published once a year?
The draws and seeds are set by the regional tournament committee which consists of the regional chair, members of the regional committee, head official, and the tournament director.
The committee is supposed to use national/regional rankings for seeding though they are able to use UTR among other things to come up with seeding. In several regions there won't be many ranked players so they'll have to use UTR and other recommendations to come up with seeds.
There must be a minimum of eight schools participating in a regional championship with no fewer than 32 singles/16 doubles in the main draw. For the larger regions with more schools the draws can be as big as they want so it's up to each region to decide how big or small a draw they want.
Regional rankings are published twice a year – once in early January with the basis of the rankings coming from fall results and again in early June after the dual-match season has finished.