The opening day of the 2021 ITA National Fall Championships played mostly true to form.
Still, you could feel the intensity on the courts at Barnes Tennis Center from the opening matches all the way through the evening’s conclusion. Fitting for the stakes the players are competing for.
The action, and emotion, will likely heat up on Friday, as the second day of the four-day event will be the busiest. We’ll kick things off at 9 a.m. PST, with Round of 16 singles. From there, singles will take the court again for quarterfinal play. Doubles then closes out the day with Round of 16 action.
The ITA National Fall Championships tournament central page is the place to go for updated draws and schedules, in addition to live scoring and live streaming links.
Cracked Racquets will be broadcasting throughout the championships. Utilizing its “redzone coverage”, Cracked Racquets will spotlight many of the matches at Barnes Tennis Center, with commentary and analysis. They’ll also conduct interviews with players and coaches during the event. You can catch all of the Cracked Racquets coverage on their YouTube page.
Daniel Milavsky and Brian Shi of Harvard scored the biggest upset on Thursday. The Crimson duo bested Ohio State’s second-seeded team of James Trotter and Justin Boulais 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (5).
Keeping with the Ivy League trend, Cornell’s Alafia Ayeni scored the lone win over a seeded player in men’s singles. Ayeni defeated No. 6 Gabriel Diallo of Kentucky 6-3, 7-5.
In women’s singles, Mell Rasco of Georgia topped No. 4 Lisa Zaar of Pepperdine 7-6 (6), 6-4. Stanford’s Connie Ma upended No. 7 Snow Han of USC 6-3, 6-1. Irina Cantos Siemers of Ohio State outlasted No. 8 Ayana Akli of South Carolina 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.
