University of Minnesota Athletics
Brichacova Resumes Fall Action
9/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
2014 ITA All-American Championships Pre-qualifying Bracket
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - After kicking the season off at the Gopher Invitational last weekend, the Minnesota women's tennis team will send senior Tereza Brichacova to the 2014 Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. this weekend. Brichacova opens pre-qualifying singles play Saturday against Natalie Beazant of Rice at noon CT.
The pre-qualifying singles draw features 64 players. To advance to the main draw, a player must win three rounds. A total of eight singles players will move on to qualifying from pre-qualifying play. The qualifying round is a 64-player draw that requires three wins to advance to the main draw. Eight spots in the singles main draw are reserved for qualifiers.
Main draw singles semifinalists, main draw doubles finalists, and main draw consolation champions will receive automatic entry into the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, Nov. 6-9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
Brichacova, an All-Big Ten Second Team selection a year ago, is coming off a championship win in the top flight at the Gopher Invitational. The title win was her second in a row after she won the tournament's top draw as a junior in 2013. She also compiled a 5-2 doubles record in the first weekend of the season, earning first, second, and third-place flight finishes alongside teammates Aria Lambert and Mehvish Safdar.
This is the Prague, Czech Republic native's first appearance at the All-American Championships and is the second appearance by a Gopher at the tournament under third-year head coach Chuck Merzbacher after Natallia Pintusava was beaten in her first pre-qualifying match by Baylor's Jordaan Sanford in 2013. Brichacova goes into the event with 52-career wins.
Beazant enters Saturday with the fifth-overall seed in the pre-qualifying draw. The Rice senior is ranked No. 93 in singles and is ranked 20th in doubles alongside Liat Zimmermann. The Leigh, England native became the Owls' first All-American in women's singles since 1986 when she was a sophomore and has a career singles ledger of 88-26, including 34-11 tournament play.
The winner of the Brichacova-Beazant match will play at 4:30 p.m. CT Saturday against the winner of a first-round match between Drake's Maddie Johnson and Jessica Wacnik of Boston College.
After this tournament, the Gophers pick up play at ITA Central Region Championships in Stillwater, Okla. from Oct. 16-20 and complete their fall season Oct. 31-Nov. 2 at Dartmouth's Big Green Invitational in Hanover, N.H.
###
