Oct. 31, 2011

Tournament Central

STANFORD, Calif.- The Stanford tennis programs will be well-represented this weekend at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships, when play gets underway Nov. 3-6, at Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

The USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships serve as the culmination of the fall season. Hosted by Columbia University, this prestigious event features a 32-player singles draw and a 20-team doubles draw for men and women.

Gaining automatic entry into the tournament are champions from the ITA Regional Championships held across the country in October, winners of the USTA/ITA National Small College Super Bowl, and the consolation champions, doubles finalists and singles quarterfinalists from the ITA Men's and Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships.

Ryan Thacher earned a spot in the field after outlasting California's Ben McLachlan 6-2, 2-6, 7-5 to claim the singles title at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships. It was the first singles crown of Thacher's career.

The Cardinal women's team will have four players participating. Mallory Burdette and Nicole Gibbs will compete in the singles tournament, in addition to pairing up in the doubles. Burdette captured the singles consolation title at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships and won the main draw doubles crown with Gibbs, who is appearing in the singles field after winning the ITA Northwest Regional Championships singles title.

Stacey Tan and Ellen Tsay are into the doubles draw after defeating Sacramento State's Clarisse Baca and Maria Meliuk 8-4 in the final of the ITA Northwest Regional Championships.