FLUSHING, NEW YORK - Texas A&M senior Alexis Klegou (pronounced CLAY-goo) is one of 32 singles players in the country selected to play in the prestigious 2011 USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships which begin on Thursday at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York.
"Goo (Klegou) has earned his place here," Aggie head coach Steve Denton said. "He had a terrific spring and has continued to improve throughout the summer and fall. He reached the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American Tennis Championships earlier this fall in Tulsa. This is great competition in a terrific venue and this will help make him a better player."
Klegou, a 6-2 righthander from Dunkerque, France, is the logical choice to assume the No. 1 position in the Aggie lineup after three seniors graduated including All-Americans Austin Krajicek and Jeff Dadamo as well as Alexey Grigorov from Russia. Klegou played the majority of time at the No. 4 line last spring and posted a 21-2 dual record which included a 13-0 mark at the No. 4 position and Klegou brings a 15-match winning streak into dual play in the spring of 2012.
Klegou faces Haig Schneiderman from Columbia in the first round with the match slated to begin at 6 p.m. eastern on Thursday. The winner of Klegou's match will face the winner of the No. 6 overall seed, Chase Buchanan from Ohio State, and Ray Sarmiento from USC.
Krajicek and Dadamo won the doubles portion of the 2010 USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships in Flushing, New York, and then followed up with the NCAA Doubles National Championship this past spring at Stanford.
Klegou won the clinching point in the Aggie's Big 12 Championship match against Oklahoma last spring as the Aggies won the team title and then Klegou won the deciding point in the NCAA second-round match against LSU as the Aggies finished the 2011 spring season ranked No. 10 in the country.
Klegou is ranked No. 42 in the pre-season ITA rankings. In the first round in Tulsa, Klegou faced the No. 2 seed in the tournament field and the country's No. 3-ranked player in Eric Quigley from Kentucky and defeated Quigley, 7-6 (1), 6-3, in straight sets.