Two Cougars Featured in Main Draw

TULSA, OKLA. – Two Cougars will compete in the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships Thursday.

No. 91 Georgy Batrakov defeated Chris Thiemann of Ole Miss, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in the final round of the qualifying rounds to earn a spot in the main draw.

Competing in his first tournament this fall, senior Batrakov has yet to drop a match this fall.

No. 117 Spencer Smith recorded his first loss of fall play after falling to Oklahoma’s Guillermo Alcorta, 6-4, 6-3 in the final round.

Batrakov will join No. 53 Patrick Kawka Thursday in the main draw of the tournament. Sophomore Kawka’s preseason ranking qualified him to compete in the main draw.

Batrakov will compete against Mississippi State’s Louis Cant in his first round matchup of the main draw at 8 a.m. Thursday. Kawka will take on Gonzalo Escobar of Texas Tech at 11 a.m. 

The winner of each match will compete in the second round Thursday. The main draw features 64 of the top singles players and 32 doubles teams vying for the titles.

In doubles, Batrakov and Kawka reached the final round of the qualifying rounds after defeating Mark DeCastro and Thai Tu of San Francisco, 8-5. Batrakov and Kawka missed the main draw however after falling to Carlos Cueto and Ben McLachlan of California, 8-4, in the final round.

Smith and freshman Francis Sargeant reached the third round but were unable to top Duke’s Raphael Hemmeler and Fred Saba (8-6).

For more information on the tournament and for tournament draws, click here.