Florida men’s tennis will compete in the ITA/D’Novo All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., hosted by the University of Tulsa from Oct. 2-10. The nine-day event offers the first national singles and doubles titles of the 2010-11 collegiate tennis season.
The tournament is slated kick off with singles pre-qualifying rounds on Oct. 2 and 3, followed by singles and doubles qualifying rounds Oct. 4-6. The main draw in both singles and doubles will open on Oct. 7 with the finals scheduled for Oct. 10.
UF senior Alexandre Lacroix (Paris, France), a quarterfinalist in last year’s singles event and currently the ninth-ranked player nationally, has received a bid into the main 64-player singles draw, as well as the 32-team doubles draw alongside junior Nassim Slilam (Paris, France). Slilam and sophomores Bob van Overbeek (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Sekou Bangoura Jr. (Bradenton, Fla.) will open singles play in the qualifying rounds, while van Overbeek and Bangoura will also team up beginning in the doubles qualifying stage.
Appearing first at the ITA All-American Championships for Florida will be a trio of players in the singles pre-qualifying rounds, as freshmen Michael Alford (Tampa, Fla.) and Andrew Butz (Vero Beach, Fla.) along with sophomore Billy Federhofer (North Miami, Fla.) will begin play on Saturday.
This marks the fourth straight year that Tulsa will host the event. Following the ITA All-American Championships, the Gators will turn their attention to the USTA/ITA Southeastern Regional Championships, which UF will host at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex Oct. 21-25.
