SURPRISE, Ariz. – Mohanad Alhouni (Jr., Tripoli, Libya) defeated Nikolai Parodi of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Thursday morning in ITA Oracle Cup singles competiton at the Surpise Tennis and Racquet Club, advancing past the first round of eight competitors.
“Mohanad was fortunate to come through today,” said Head Coach Tommy Valentini. “Parodi is an outstanding young player with an incredibly bright future at the national level of DIII.”
No. 3 seed Alhouni defeated Parodi by scores of 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 to move on to the second round of four participants. Lubomir Cuba of Middlebury College sprung past the No. 2 seed, David Liu of The University of Chicago by scores of 6-4, 7-5. Alhouni will face Cuba at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow morning, 8:30 a.m. (PST).
Another upset occurred in the top-half of the bracket as Michael Rozenvasser of Carnegie Mellon University took down the No. 1 seed in Kai Yuen Leung of Skidmore College by scores of 6-2, 6-2.
“Cuba of Middlebury is an excellent player. He won his regional handily in his first DIII competition after transferring from Michigan, and beat a heck of a player in David Liu from University of Chicago in straight sets today. Mo (Alhouni) will have to play very well tomorrow to come through. He’s looking forward to the opportunity,” Valentini commented.
The singles draw conclude with the championship on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. (PST).