June 18, 2012

Bronx, N.Y. - This past weekend, Fordham University freshman Srikar Alla (Hyderabad, India/Pendleton School) advanced to the finals of the US Open National Playoffs, hosted at Yale University.

The US Open National Playoffs is a series of tournaments that gives any player 14 years of age or older who meets the eligibility requirements the opportunity to qualify for the 2012 US Open. Thirteen USTA sections will run a Sectional Qualifying Tournament to include a men's singles, women's singles and mixed doubles division between April 1 and July 4. With a maximum of a 256 singles draw and a 128 mixed doubles team draw, players/teams will compete in a single elimination draw. Singles players will play to the best-of-three tiebreak sets and mixed doubles teams will play two tiebreak sets, no-ad scoring, with a match tiebreak in lieu of a third set. Within each division, the top two players/teams will be seeded based on their ATP/WTA computer ranking (if any). The winner of each Sectional Qualifying Tournament in each division (men's singles, women's singles, mixed doubles) will advance to the US Open National Playoffs Championships in their respective division taking place in New Haven, CT at Yale University during the New Haven Open at Yale, a WTA event, part of the US Open Series (August 17-20 for singles, August 22-25 for mixed doubles). The winner of each Singles Championship (1 male, 1 female) will receive a wild card entry to compete in the 2012 US Open Qualifying Tournament (August 21-24) and the winner of the Mixed Doubles Championship (1 team) will receive a wild card entry to compete in the 2012 US Open Mixed Doubles Championship (commencing August 29) at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Here are Alla's match results:
First Round - defeated Wilson Monteiro 6-0, 6-0
Second Round - defeated Jordan Friedlander 6-1, 6-3
Third Round - defeated Brendan Seaver of Harvard 6-2, 6-2
Quarterfinals - defeated Kiril Kasayanov (former #1 player at Sacred Heart) 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
Semifinals - defeated Mitchell Dobeck 6-1, 6-1
Finals - lost to Nolan Paige (currently #6 recruit in the nation who committed to Stanford) 7-5, 4-6, 2-6

"This was a great result for Srikar making the finals," said Fordham head coach Cory Hubbard. "He was one set away from making it to the national playoff and was theoretically only seven matches from making the main draw of the US Open. He had two impressive wins against Seaver, who plays at Harvard and Kasayanov was one of the top players in the region last year from Sacred Heart. The match he had against Paige was a battle, and he just ran out of gas and started to cramp in the middle of the match. Paige, is one of the top players in the country and is a top 10 recruit, and headed to Stanford next year. It says a lot for Srikar to hang with him and almost pull out the win."

In April, Alla was one of three Fordham University men's tennis players to earn All-Atlantic 10 honors, being named to the second team. He joined sophomores Kuba Kowalski (First Team) and Mischa Koran (Second Team) in earning All-Conference honors. They became the first Fordham men's tennis players to earn All-Conference honors since Chris Kelly in 2002.

The three players, who all recorded more than 20 singles wins on the season, led Fordham to one of its best seasons in years, finishing the year with a 17-10 record, the most wins for a Fordham men's tennis team since the 1995-96 squad went 18-3. The Rams also advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2012 Atlantic 10 Championship with a win over Saint Louis in the first round, Fordham's first win at the championships since 2006. The quarterfinal appearance was the first for the Fordham men's team since joining the conference in 1995-96.

Alla led the Rams in 2011-12 in singles wins, going 23-9 on the year, playing mostly at second singles where he was 16-2 on the year. In doubles action, Alla was 17-14 overall, 7-0 at first doubles.

"Srikar, is planning to play a lot of ITF Professional events this summer and hopes to qualify into the main draw and pick up an ATP ranking," continued Hubbard. "He is very motivated to get better this summer, which shows his dedication after having such a successful season. This was another opportunity for one of our players to gain a lot of recognition and respect for our program, and going 3 sets with a top 10 recruit and making the finals of this event is an outstanding result."