As the pre-qualifying singles come to an end at the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., Arizona’s quartet of representatives — Giacomo Miccini, Andre Vidaller, Mario Urquidi, and Sumeet Shinde — led the Wildcats in their toughest tournament of the season.
“Overall I saw positive things from the guys this weekend,” head coach Tad Berkowitz said. “There are definitely areas that we need to improve upon and will work hard to get ready for the next tournament.”
Both Vidaller and Miccini made it through the third round of the pre-qualifying singles while Urquidi and Shinde received a bye and began play on Sunday.
In his first match, Vidaller faced UNLV’s Ace Matias and fell behind in the first set, 6-2, before rallying to win the last two sets and win with a final of 6-4, 7-5.
In his second appearance of the tournament, Vidaller faced Loyola Marymount’s Sebastian Bustamante, subsequently topping him 6-1, 6-2, as he ended Saturday with two wins under his belt.
Vidaller faced San Diego State’s Thorsten Bertsch in the third round on Sunday, losing the first set 6-3. He went on to win the second set 6-4, but couldn’t pull off a victory falling to Bertsch 6-2 in the deciding set.
Shinde faced No. 14-ranked Johan Backstrom of Ole Miss and won the first set 7-5, but ended up getting crushed as Backstorm topped him 6-3, and 6-0 in the final two sets.
Urquidi went on to face Marquette’s Vukasin Teofanovic in the second round. Teofanovic edged Urquidi as he went on to win the first two sets 6-0 and 6-3.
During the bonus match single play, Urquidi had another opportunity when he faced Bradley’s Ahmed Albitar, falling behind with a 6-2 loss in the first set before retaliating to claim the next two sets, 6-2, 6-2.
Miccini began the tournament in the first round facing Michigan State’s Will Davis. Miccini won his first match 7-5, 6-3. In the second round, Miccini faced Wichita State’s Alvaro Gutierrez, and despite losing the first set 6-4, came back to win the next two sets and claim a 7-5, 6-3 victory.
In the third round, Miccini faced Texas A&M’s Alberto Bautista, and was beaten in two straight sets 6-3, 6-3 against the ninth-ranked player in the nation to end his tournament hopes.