One of the oldest, most prestigious events in women’s collegiate tennis returns to Riviera Tennis Club today through Sunday. As has been the tradition at Riviera, club members are opening their homes to players from across the country for the ITA Women’s All-American Tennis Championships.
Over 120 players from more than 40 Division I colleges and universities are competing in the annual event that began in 1983 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and moved to Riviera in 1988.
Prequalifying rounds were Saturday and Sunday at Pepperdine, qualifying was Tuesday and Wednesday and the 32-player singles and 24-team doubles main draws begin today on the lower courts. Saturday’s semifinals and Sunday’s finals (singles at 11 a.m., followed by doubles) will be played on the upper courts. There is no charge for admission.
Main draw singles semifinalists, main draw doubles finalists and main draw consolation champions will receive automatic entry into the 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, Nov. 3-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.
Danielle Collins from the University of Virginia won the WAATC singles crown last year while Cal’s Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr won the doubles title.
North Carolina’s Hayley Carter, ranked No. 1 in the nation, leads a field that features nine of the top 10 players in the Oracle/ITA preseason Division I women’s national singles rankings, including No. 2 Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine), No. 3 Francesca Di Lorenzo (Ohio State), No. 5 Sinead Lohan (Miami), No. 6 Brooke Austin (Florida), No. 7 Manasse, No. 8 Jasmine Lee (Mississippi State), No. 9 Belinda Woolcock (Florida) and No. 10 Katarina Adamovic (Oklahoma State).
A Pac-12 duo has won five of the last six WAATC doubles titles.
— Steve Galluzzo
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
