The day saw high-performance competition as players move into the men’s and women’s singles finals of the 2020 Oracle ITA Masters by UTR. In this year’s event, 63 matches were contested in both the men’s and women’s singles draws as a field of 64 is pared down to two champions.
Brandon Holt takes the win over Keegan Smith, 6-7(6), 6-2, 1-0(5)
In what would normally be a school rivalry matchup, Keegan and Brandon found themselves on opposites of the net to battle it out for a spot in the finals. The two began playing tennis together at the age of 10. Brandon seemed to be right in his element as he fought for the win today. In the first set Keegan was clubbing the ball. Brandon had to sweat his match in the afternoon heat, as he found himself down a break in the first set. The former Trojan regained the upper hand to lead to a third-set match tiebreak.
“This feels a lot like a college tournament with the no-ad and playing lets,” Brandon said of the tournament. “This off season, I’ve been training really hard. I don’t feel tired at all.”
Brandon will matchup with Cannon Kingsley tomorrow at 4:00 PM PT.
Angela Kulikov def. Alexa Ryngler, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0(11)
In their first-ever matchup, Angela Kulikov kicked out Alexa Ryngler to move into the finals. The Trojan found herself on the losing end of the first set. Angela evened things out in the second to take the match to a third-set tiebreak. Her physical and mental toughness carried her to a win after being down matchpoints in the 10-point tiebreaker.
“I’m an applied psychology masters student right now, so I like to call it that I play the psychology instead of the game,” Angela said of her intense tiebreak with Alexa.
Angela will go head-to-head with fellow Trojan Eryn Cayetano at 2:00 PM PT.
Eryn Cayetano outlasts Sophie Whittle, 6-1, 4-6, 1-0(6)
Starting the match, Sophie Whittle seemed to be off her game. Sophie was not able to handle Eryn Cayetano’s forehand from the middle of the court and was unable to make plays in the first set. Eryn played aggresively making the match tough for Sophie to work her way into points. Sophie fought her way back in the second set drawing more errors from Eryn. That wasn’t the relief of the gas pedal for Eryn as she was able to reset and find her stride again. Eryn came up with strong passing shots leading her to victory.
Eryn will step onto the court with teammate Angela Kulikov at 2:00 PM PT tomorrow.
Cannon Kingsley downs Govind Nanda, 5-7, 7-6(8), 1-0(9)
In a high-speed entertainer, Cannon Kingsley and Govind Nanda were competitive from start to finish. No matter where the path banked and curved, the match boiled down to who came up with the bigger point at the end of each set. Late in the third-set tiebreaker Kingsley unleashed a good passing shot that was the pivotal moment in the tiebreaker to ultimately lead him to the win.
Cannon meets Brandon Holt at the net tomorrow at 4:00 PM PT.
Tomorrow will serve up more highlights as we will name a women’s and a men’s singles champion. Both events will be televised exclusively on ESPNU with the women’s final at 2:00 PM PT and the men’s final slated for 4:00 PM PT.
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