Tulane University
ITA All-American Tourney
Washington Star Holds off Tulane's Kogan
Oct 12, 2003 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 12, 2003
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Tulane University senior Michael Kogan (Kfar-Saba, Israel) was defeated in three sets on Sunday morning, ending his bid for a national title at the prestigious Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships on Sunday morning.
Kogan, who had already defeated four nationally-ranked opponents in three days, could not come-from-behind against Washington's Alex Vlaski, the fourth-ranked player in the nation. Kogan, ranked No. 7 in the country, fell, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.
Vlaski went on to upset No. 1 Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 in the singles final. A junior from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Vlaski became the first Husky to reach the ITA All-American singles final and is the first to win a national title since 1924. Vlaski was playing in his first national final after reaching two semifinals and one quarterfinal last season.
"I finally won a national tournament and it feels good to have beaten so many great players," said Vlaski, who beat three players ranked in the top 20 this week.
The Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships included six days of qualifying matches leading up to the this weekend's 64-player, 32-doubles team main draw. 256-singles player and 128-doubles team prequalifying tournaments were played October 3-6 which fed into 64-player and 32-doubles team qualifying tournaments October 7-8. The combined singles tournament fields can run over 350 players and a player who begins in prequalifying must win seven matches just to reach the main draw.
The Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championship, the largest single tournament in the country, offers the first national singles and doubles titles of the season, and are followed by the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the the season-ending NCAA Championships in May (the women's counterpart to the Icy Hot/ITA Men's All-American Championships, the Riviera Women's All-American Championships, is hosted by the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades).
