TEMPE, Ariz. – Entering its fourth year of existence, the Oracle ITA Masters has quickly established itself as one of the premier events on the collegiate tennis calendar.
Following the successful expansion of the men’s and women’s singles draws in 2016, the 2018 Oracle ITA Masters will again feature 32-player singles competitors per gender. Invitations were sent out to one man and one woman from each Division I Conference to participate, with criteria similar to the NCAA Tournament being used.
The Oracle ITA Masters men’s and women’s singles champions earn automatic entry into the 2018 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, which will be held November 7-11, in Surprise, Arizona.
A 32-team mixed-doubles event will also take place at the 2018 Oracle ITA Masters, with players from the same conference partnered up wherever possible. Hayley Carter (North Carolina) and Christopher Eubanks (Georgia Tech) won the inaugural mixed doubles title in 2016, with Holt and Ena Shibahara (UCLA) taking the 2017 title.
The singles fields for the 2018 event, which takes place on September 20-23, 2018, in Malibu, California, at the Malibu Racquet Club and Pepperdine University, were revealed today by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and Oracle.
Mitch Harper of Virginia Tech, winner of the 2017 Milwaukee Tennis Classic, and Texas junior Yuya Ito are notable names competing on the men’s side.
Makenna Jones of North Carolina, leads the names entered in the women’s singles field. Jones finished the 2017-18 season ranked No. 4 nationally in singles.
Fernanda Contreras of Vanderbilt, the winner of the 2017 Riviera ITA Women’s All-American Singles Championship and runner-up at the 2017 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, is entered in the 2018 Oracle ITA Masters. Contreras, the No. 10-ranked player at the end of 2018, led the Commodores to the final of the 2018 NCAA Division I Tennis Championships, where they fell in a heartbreaker to Stanford
4-3.
Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami, the 2018 ITA Division I Women’s National Player To Watch and No. 5-ranked player, is another notable name competing in Malibu.
Men’s Selections
Majed Kilani, Tulsa (American)
Jordan Benjamin, Dayton (Atlantic-10)
Mitch Harper, Virginia Tech (ACC)
Fermin Calvo Barcelo, Kennesaw State (Atlantic Sun)
Yuya Ito, Texas (Big 12)
Alvaro Verdu, Marquette (Big East)
Tim Handel, Northern Arizona (Big Sky)
Henry Patten, UNC Asheville (Big South)
Stefan Milicevic, Minnesota (Big Ten)
Nicolas Moreno de Alboran, UC Santa Barbara (Big West)
Felipe Sarrasgue, Elon (Colonial)
Aziz Kijametovic, Old Dominion (Conference USA)
Nico Mostardi, Cleveland State (Horizon League)
Sven Lah, Baylor (At-Large)
Zeke Clark, Illinois (At-Large)
Daniel Cukierman, USC (At-Large)
Aleks Kovacevic, Illinois (At-Large)
Adrian Oetzbach, Pepperdine (Host Wild Card)
Zdenek Derkas, Fresno State (Mountain West)
Matt Kuhar, Bryant (Northeast)
Hendrik Inno, Belmont (Ohio Valley)
Laurens Verboven, USC (Pac-12)
Christian Sigsgaard, Texas (At-Large)
Olivier Stuart, Mercer (Southern)
Gabriel Evans, UIW (Southland)
Ion Efrim, Alabama State (Southwestern)
Igor Kolaric, Illinois State (Summit League)
Guanarteme Nuez, UT Arlington (Sun Belt)
Andrew Ton, Navy (Patriot League)
August Holmgren, San Diego (West Coast)
Lorenzo Fucile, Grand Canyon (WAC)
Johannes Schretter, Baylor (Oracle Wild Card)
Women’s Selections
Fatima Bizhukova, Wichita State (American)
Maria Siopacha, George Washington (Atlantic-10)
Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami (ACC)
Maja Ornberg, FGCU (Atlantic Sun)
Giulia Pairone, Michigan (At-Large)
Jessica Livianu, St. John’s (Big East)
Marianna Petrei, Idaho (Big Sky)
Lauren Proctor, Winthrop (Big South)
Kate Fahey, Michigan (Big Ten)
Michaela Bayerlova, Washington State (At-Large)
Rosie Cheng, William & Mary (Colonial)
Maria Kononova, North Texas (Conference USA)
Margita Sunjic, Northern Kentucky (Horizon League)
Erica Oosterhout, Harvard (Ivy League)
Dominique Vasile, Quinnipiac (Metro-Atlantic)
Miruna Vasilescu, Akron (Mid-American)
Salma Ewing, USC (At-Large)
Veronika Golanova, Illinois State (Missouri Valley)
Elysia Bolton, UCLA (At-Large)
Anna Grigoryan, LIU Brooklyn (Northeast)
Lidia Yanes Garcia, Austin Peay (Ohio Valley)
Fernanda Contreras, Vanderbilt (SEC)
Katarina Kozarov, Furman (Southern)
Reka Szentes, Alabama State (Southwestern)
Bianca Mok, Denver (Summit League)
Sara Daavettila, North Carolina (At-Large)
Ana Joyner, Army (Patriot League)
Veronika Miroshnichenko, Loyola Marymount (West Coast)
Evgeniya Levashova, Pepperdine (At-Large)
Makenna Jones, North Carolina (Oracle Wild Card)
