Nov. 6, 2009
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Texas A&M junior All-American Austin Krajicek (Brandon, Fla.) and junior Jeff Dadamo (Tampa, Fla.) stunned the No. 1 doubles team in the country in the quarterfinals of the prestigious ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships held Friday morning at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center on the campus of host Yale University.
The unranked Aggie tandem, both left-handers from the Sunshine State, upset the top-seeded, top-ranked and NCAA runner-up Tennessee duo of J.P. Smith and Davey Sandgren, 8-3, to move on to tomorrow's best-of-three semifinal match against Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha of Duke at 8 a.m. (CT). Carleton and Cunha knocked off third-ranked Robert Farah and Steve Johnson of defending national champion USC with an 8-4 victory. It took less than an hour for the Aggies to make quick work of the Vols.
"We got off to a very fast start," Texas A&M head coach Steve Denton said. "These doubles pro-sets indoors are usually a sprint. We were more aggressive than Tennessee which was the difference. For an early morning match, our guys came out with a lot of energy and were fired up, ready to play. We started off by holding serve and then broke serve to go up 2-0. Austin lost his serve, but then we were able to break again and get a double break. We did a good job of returning and making them play a lot of volleys. Once we had the momentum and had the second break at 5-2, Austin and Jeff relaxed and played even better."
This is the second time in the last two years in which an A&M doubles team has downed the No. 1 doubles team in tournament play. Krajicek and former three-time All-American Conor Pollock (San Antonio, Texas) defeated top-seeded and top-ranked Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey of Virginia, 6-3, 6-4, in the round of 16 at the 2008 NCAA Mens Doubles Championship held in Tulsa, Okla.
"Tomorrow will be a completely different match," Denton said. "Both Duke players are solid and very good returners. It will be important for us to be active and put pressure on their service game."
Krajicek and Dadamo have won seven-straight matches (7-0) since the beginning of their successful tournament run at the Wilson/ITA Texas Regional Championships held in College Station which resulted in an automatic bid to the ITA National lndoors as the doubles titlists. The victory matched Krajicek's highest career doubles victory, while it was the first for Dadamo who is a transfer from the University of Florida playing in his first season for the Aggies.
Live scoring for singles, doubles and consolation play is available at: www.itatennis.com.
2009 ITA NATIONAL INTERCOLLEGIATE INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
Nov. 5-8, 2009
Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center
at New Haven, Conn.
DOUBLES
Quarterfinals
Jeff Dadamo-Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M) def. (1) J.P. Smith-Davey Sandgren (Tennessee), 8-3.