Jackson Competes At ITA Fall Nationals
BERKELEY – Ryder Jackson, a Cal men's tennis junior, competes in singles at the ITA National Fall Championships to close out the first half of the 2022-23 season for the Golden Bears. The annual tournament starts Wednesday and ends Sunday at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
In the opening round of 32, Jackson faces Wichita State's Kristof Minarik at 12 p.m. on Wednesday.
Cracked Racquets will cover each day of nationals on its YouTube Channel; here is the live stream link for each day:
Wednesday – https://youtu.be/F9AHcMNvOZQ
Thursday – https://youtu.be/OjicaC963f8
Friday – https://youtu.be/CInM8TjRJvs
Saturday – https://youtu.be/WPbJXcpsLw4
Sunday – https://youtu.be/Vn3tS2fQyjs
Draws are available here, and live scores are available here. Please visit the tournament page for more information about fall nationals.
Jackson Reaches Super Regional Final To Qualify For Nationals
Ryder Jackson qualified for the ITA National Fall Championships when he won his singles semifinal at the ITA Northwest Super Regional Championships, defeating Pacific's Ran Amar, 6-1, 6-2, on Oct. 23 at Stanford. Jackson then competed in the super regional singles final on the Farm, falling to Stanford's Nishesh Basavareddy, 6-0, 6-3.
Kikuchi, Banthia Continue Tournament Tour
This week, Cal graduate students Yuta Kikuchi and Siddhant Banthia compete in the Dick Savitt Open, a 15K professional tournament in Ithaca, New York, played indoors on the hard courts at the Reis Tennis Center.
Banthia won his qualifying singles opener on Monday in Ithaca, 7-6, 7-5, over Isaac Nortey. But the ninth-seeded Banthia fell in his bid to reach the main draw on Tuesday when he lost to fifth-seeded Jody Maginley, 6-4, 3-6, 10-8.
On Wednesday, Kikuchi starts the singles main draw against AJ Catanzariti at 10 a.m. ET, while Kikuchi and Banthia play their main draw doubles opener vs. Axel Garcian and Cash Hanzlik not before 2:30 p.m. ET.
Previously, Kikuchi captured his first pro title in the Norman Open, a 15K pro tournament, on Sunday in Oklahoma. In a battle of two current collegiate players, the fifth-seeded Kikuchi defeated the sixth-seeded Alex Martinez, 7-5, 6-4, in the singles final. Kikuchi is ranked 62nd in the ITA preseason singles poll, while Martinez, who plays at Oklahoma, is ranked 101st.
Also in Norman, Banthia and Kikuchi reached the doubles semifinals, and Banthia advanced to the second round of singles.
Poll Position
Cal boasts a pair of ITA preseason rankings for the 2022-23 season. Along with Yuta Kikuchi's No. 62 singles ranking, the pair of sophomore Carl Emil Overbeck and newcomer Siddhant Banthia – a graduate transfer from Wake Forest – is ranked 30th in doubles.
Next Time
Cal opens 2023 in Hawaii, playing Florida State on Jan. 8 and facing host Hawaii on Jan. 9 in Honolulu.
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