WACO, Texas – University of New Mexico senior Samir Iftikhar will face Jonny Wang of USC in the first round of the NCAA Singles Championships on Wednesday (May 20) at 12 p.m. CT/11 a.m. MT at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
No. 89 nationally ranked Iftikhar and No. 45 Wang are heading into the singles tournament with very similar resumes. Both competitors reached the round of 16 at the ITA All-American Championships in the fall and also reached the singles championship match of their respective ITA Regional tournament.
Iftikhar’s national ranking allowed him to claim the Mountain West’s automatic qualification bid into the tournament as he is the highest ranked player in the conference. He is the only men’s tennis player from the MW competing in the event.
Iftikhar, who had to sit out for a large portion of the Lobos’ regular season with a broken wrist, holds an overall record of 14-9, including a 7-7 spring dual match record. His 2014-15 season is highlighted by his wins over No. 13 Amerigo Contini of Virginia Tech, No. 37 Alen Salibasic of Drake, and No. 28 Felipe Soares of Texas Tech. Additionally, Iftikhar and the Lobos claimed the MW regular season championship title this spring and made their first NCAA team appearance since 2009. UNM fell to Oklahoma State in the first round of the event earlier this month.
The UNM senior is also a three-time all-MW singles honoree and has been ranked as high as No. 33 in the national singles listings. Iftikhar is the first Lobo to qualify for the singles championship since 2009, when current volunteer assistant Johnny Parkes represented UNM. Iftikhar is the seventeenth Lobo overall to qualify for the singles tournament.
Wang earned national honors today as he was named the 2015 ITA Most Improved Senior of the Year. He has been ranked as high as No. 8 in the national singles rankings and enters the tournament with a 29-8 singles record. The Trojans, last year’s NCAA champions, fell to Baylor in the quarterfinals round of the NCAA team championships last weekend.
This is Iftikhar’s first NCAA singles appearance and Wang’s second appearance.
Live scoring/video of the match: http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/w-tennis/2015ncaa.html
COMPLETE NCAA MEN’S SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIPS BRACKET
NCAA Singles Championships: Automatic qualification into the Division I singles championships is awarded to any conference with one or more eligible singles players ranked in the ITA Top 125 for eligible/entered singles players. For conferences with more than one singles player within the ITA Top 125 eligible/entered singles players, the subcommittee applies the NCAA selection criteria to determine which student-athlete is the automatic qualifier from those conferences. All singles players must have a minimum of 13 completed singles matches, with six matches in the spring, in order to be selected as an automatic qualifier or an at-large selection.
All matches shall be the best-of-three sets. Regular scoring and a 12-point tiebreaker at six-games-all will be used for all matches.