Alabama Men’s Tennis’ Martin, Planinsek to Compete at ITA National Fall Championships, While The Rest of the Team Travels to UCF Invite
11/3/2021 4:42:00 PM | Men's Tennis
The doubles tandem of Martin and Planinsek will open competition at 7:30 p.m. CT Thursday, while the Alabama men’s team competes at noon CT on Friday
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Two Alabama men's tennis players will represent the Crimson Tide at the ITA National Fall Championships Nov. 4-7, as Juan Martin and Filip Planinsek earned a berth to the four-day tournament at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif. Additionally, the rest of the men's squad will head to the UCF Invite for the three-day event beginning Nov. 5 at the UCF Collegiate Tennis Center in Lake Nona, Fla.
How to Follow
Live scoring and video for the ITA National Fall Championships will be available through Tennis Ticker with links available at RollTide.com. Updates throughout both tournaments will be provided on the team's Twitter account, @AlabamaMTN.
The ITA Tournament
- Juan Martin and Filip Planinsek open play against Sven Lah and Finn Bass from Baylor at 7:30 p.m. CT
- The four-day national championship will feature 32 doubles teams
- The Round of 32 opens play Thursday while the Round of 16 kicks off Friday
- Saturday features the quarterfinals and semifinals at the tournament and the champion will be crowned Sunday
- This is the fifth ITA National Fall Championships, after the tournament replaced the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate event in 2017
A Look at the UCF Invite
- The tournament will run Nov. 5-7
- The Tide will compete against players from Florida State, Florida Atlantic, South Florida and host Central Florida
- Alabama opens with matches against South Florida at noon CT on Friday, before playing players from Florida State and Florida Atlantic at noon CT Saturday
- The Tide will compete against a contingent from Central Florida at 8 a.m. CT Sunday
The Southern Regional Champions
- Juan Martin and Filip Planinsek earned an automatic berth to the ITA National Fall Championships after winning the doubles draw at the ITA Southern Regional
- Martin and Planinsek went undefeated at the regional event, topping Noah Martins and Javiera Llinare (Troy), fourth-seeded Boris Kozlov and Nichlas Watson (LSU), eighth-seeded Carles Hernandez and Alverta Colas (Mississippi State) and Ruan Du Preeze and Samrakshyak Bajarchary (Alabama State) to earn a spot in the finals
- The UA duo battled LSU's Vlad Lobak and Gabriel Diaz Freire, who were seeded fifth, in the finals, taking the win in straight sets
- Teammate Patrick Kaukovalta was the last Crimson Tide player to earn an invite from the ITA National Fall Championships, advancing in singles in 2018
The Season
- The Tide has competed in three fall tournaments, including the ITA Southern Regionals
- UA opened the season by hosting the Alabama Four-In-The-Fall
- Filip Planinsek, Joao Ferreira and Enzo Aguiard went undefeated at that tournament in singles play, while Patrick Kaukovalta and German Samofalov went undefeated in doubles play
- Juan Martin led the Tide at the MSU Bulldog Invitational, recording a pair of singles wins before posting two doubles victories
Get all the latest information on the team by following AlabamaMTN on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
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Players Mentioned
