D'Agord Wins Twice at ITA All-American Championships
10/7/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
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Alabama’s Luigi D’Agord kept his hot hand going Thursday at the Icy Hot/ITA All-American Championships in Chattanooga, Tenn. and advanced to the Round of 16.
D’Agord won twice on the opening day of the main draw at the Championships. In the opening round he defeated Southern California’s Johan Berg, 6-2, 6-3. He then came back in the afternoon and defeated Georgia’s Antonio Ruiz, the tournament’s No. 9 seed, 6-3, 6-4.
“Luigi is playing great tennis right now,” said Alabama head coach Billy Pate. “I couldn’t be more satisfied with the way he is playing.”
With two wins today, D’Agord is now just three wins away from the finals and needs just one more victory to secure a spot in the ITA National Indoor Championships in early November. However, it won’t be an easy task as D’Agord will face Sam Warburg of Stanford, the nation’s No. 2 ranked player, Friday at 9 a.m. Last year Warburg defeated Alabama’s Stephen Mitchell in the NCAA Tournament.
D’Agord is 5-0 at the ITA All-Americans and is now 7-1 on the season. His immediate success comes as somewhat of a surprise considering he sat out all of the 2003-04 season and this is his first taste of competition in close to a year.
“It’s exciting to watch Luigi play right now because he sat out all of last year and he is just now coming on,” said Pate. “He has a lot of talent and he is playing smart and cutting down on unforced errors. Every time he goes out on the court he seems to improve on something.”
Round of 64
Luigi D’Agord (UA) d. Johan Berg (USC), 6-2, 6-3
Round of 32
Luigi D’Agord (UA) d. Antonio Ruiz (UGA), 6-3, 6-4
