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Virginia Sweeps Singles and Doubles Championships

October 11, 2010

TULSA, Okla. — For the second consecutive year and for the fifth time in history, the winners of the singles and doubles titles were swept by one school as first-year Virginia freshman Alex Domijan, won the tournament’s elusive singles title, while his teammates, Drew Courtney and Michael Shabaz, hoisted the doubles trophy at the 2010 D’Novo/ITA Men’s All-American Championships, the ITA’s first major championship of the year. The Virginia champions followed in the footsteps of Tennessee’s John-Patrick Smith, who last year achieved a feat that only two others have accomplished in the history of the ITA Men’s All-American Championships, by capturing the singles and doubles titles. He is joined by exclusive company in Mississippi State’s Daniel Courcol (1992) and Harvard’s James Blake (1998). With three out of the eight quarterfinalists hailing from the University of Virginia, there was a strong possibility that one of the Cavs would walk away with the singles title. However, after Duke’s Reid Carleton and the tournament’s Runner-Up Kentucky’s Eric Quigley quickly disposed of Courtney and No. 13 Sanam Singh of Virginia, respectively, the title opportunity would rest on the shoulders of the top college freshman in the country — Alex Domijan.

Domijan was the top American junior player entering the collegiate ranks this year. He is currently ranked No. 574 in the world in the ATP singles rankings having reached the finals at two Futures Tour events and reaching the quarterfinals of Junior Wimbledon, edged in three sets by 2009 NCAA singles champion Devin Britton.

After picking up three straight 6-2, 6-1 wins over No. 42 Daniel Nguyen of USC and seeded players No. 13 Javier Garrapiz from Georgia and No. 2 Henrique Cunha of Duke on the first two days, Domijan continued to display his dominance in yesterday’s competition with two more straight set victories over top 10-ranked opponents, Florida’s No. 9 Alexandre Lacroix and reigning NCAA Champion, Bradley Klahn from Stanford. Through five of the possible six matches played in the tournament, Domijan has yet to drop a set. Then the giant with the giant game ran into his toughest competition, No. 8 seed Quigley, who put the champ against the ropes by winning the first set of the final match. Domijan rallied from dropping the first set to win the following two in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 over Quigley, who has made quite the name for himself at the annual fall tournament hosted by Tulsa University.

Last year, Quigley was all of the buzz after stunning the2009 Campbell/ITA National Player of the Year and top seed, Oleksandr Nedovyesov of Oklahoma State. Entering last year’s event as a qualifier and 70th-ranked player, Quigley won 26 of 28 points on his first serve over the last set and a half, which was the key factor in the match.

Domijan proved today that while experience made it a tough match, talent prevailed in the end. In doing so, became the third freshman in the 32-year history of the tournament to win the singles title, joining Scott Davis of Stanford in 1980 and Ryan Wolters, also of Stanford, in 1995. Domijan also carved his name into the UVA record books by becoming the first Cavalier to win the ITA All-American singles championship, the only major individual title that Virginia had not previously won.

In doubles action, Courtney and Shabaz, the tournament’s No. 3 seed, who arguably entered the tournament with the most experience and titles under their belt, held off Chase Buchanan and Blaz Rola, a newly formed Ohio State doubles tandem, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in today’s final.

The reigning NCAA champs have now won 10 consecutive matches against collegiate competition dating back to last season. They became the second Cavalier team to win the title, joining former ITA National Player of the Year Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey, who won the championship in 2007.

The tournament, hosted by the University of Tulsa at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center, kicked off on Saturday, October 3 with six rounds of prequalifying and qualifying singles and doubles leading up to today’s finals competition.

For complete results and event information, visit itatennis.com.