Oct. 7, 2009
TULSA, Okla. - Texas A&M junior Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) qualified for the singles main draw at the 2009 D'Novo/ITA Men's All-American Championships held Wednesday afternoon at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
Dadamo beat his second consecutive preseason-ranked opponent in the qualifying singles draw with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 13th-seeded and No. 60-ranked Shuhei Uzawa of NCAA runner-up Ohio State in the round of 32. He joins junior All-American and No. 30-ranked Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) in tomorrow's 64-player main draw.
Rain and inclement weather has hampered much of the tournament and Dadamo was able to defeat all three of his qualifying-round opponents at three different venues and surfaces.
"Jeff has done a good job of handling the adversity and playing well under different conditions," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "He had a really good summer playing on the USTA Futures circuit and has kept that momentum going in his game this fall. He is hitting the ball well and competing at a very high level. I am really pleased with his progress and he is clearly going to be a major contributor in singles and doubles for us this spring."
In doubles action, Dadamo and senior Marcus Lunt (San Antonio, Texas) fell in the round of 16 to Jonathan Dahan and Pedro Zerbini of Cal, 8-6. Krajicek and junior Alexey Grigorov (Moscow, Russia), ranked No. 19 nationally in the preseason ITA rankings, will also compete in the doubles main draw tomorrow.
Tournament play continues through Sunday. Updated brackets for the main draw in singles and doubles will be posted later tonight at: www.itatennis.com.
2009 D'NOVO/ITA MEN'S ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Oct. 3-11, 2009
Michael D. Case Tennis Center
at Tulsa, Okla.
QUALIFYING SINGLES
Round of 32
Jeff Dadamo (Texas A&M) def. (60) Shuhei Uzawa (Ohio State), 6-3, 6-4.
QUALIFYING DOUBLES
Round of 16
Dahan-Zerbini (Cal) def. Dadamo-Lunt (Texas A&M), 8-6.