Liberty Heads to Old Dominion for ITA Atlantic Super Regional
10/21/2021 2:48:11 PM | Men's Tennis
The region’s best, including four Liberty players, will head to Old Dominion over the weekend for the ITA Men’s Tennis Atlantic Super Regional.
The three-day event will be held at ODU’s Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center in Norfolk, Va. The action gets started on Saturday morning at 8:30 a.m. and will feature two rounds of singles and one round of doubles on day one. Liberty’s Deji Thomas-Smith, Josh Wilson, Rafael Marques Da Silva and Christiaan Worst will represent the Flames at the tournament.
Thomas-Smith, Wilson and Marques Da Silva are each entered in the singles main draw. Thomas-Smith will also compete in the doubles main draw with partner Christiaan Worst. Wilson and Marques Da Silva received a wild card spot into the doubles main draw.
In the singles main draw, the two finalists will move on to the 2021 ITA National Fall Championships, held Nov. 4-7 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif. In the doubles main draw, the two finalists will also advance to the ITA National Fall Championships.
Event/Days/Location: ITA Atlantic Super Regional | Saturday-Monday | Folkes-Stevens Tennis Center | Norfolk, Va.
Liberty Flames Players Participating: Rafael Marques Da Silva, Deji Thomas-Smith, Josh Wilson, Christiaan Worst
Tournament Website/Draws: https://bit.ly/3DTufQE
Schedule:
Saturday | 8:30 a.m. start
Singles Round of 32
Singles Round of 16
Doubles Round of 16
Sunday | 9 a.m. start
Singles Quarterfinals
Doubles Quarterfinals
Doubles Semifinals
Monday | 9 a.m. start
Doubles Final
Singles Semifinals
Singles Final
Tournament Breakdown:
Liberty’s Josh Wilson and Rafael Marques Da Silva received automatic bids into the ITA Atlantic Super Regional for singles.
The Flames’ Deji Thomas-Smith and Christiaan Worst earned an automatic berth into the Super Regional in doubles. Last year’s ASUN Doubles Pair of the Year, Thomas-Smith and Worst are 3-0 this fall. All three of those wins came at the Clemson Hidden Duals against teams from Mississippi State, Clemson and Indiana. Wilson and Marques Da Silva went 1-1 in doubles at last weekend’s ITA Atlantic South Regional and received a wild card spot into the doubles main draw this weekend.
Thomas-Smith punched his ticket to the Super Regional in singles by winning two matches last weekend at the ITA Atlantic South Regional at Liberty. Thomas-Smith dominated each of those matches, winning both in straight sets to move on to the Super Regional. The London, United Kingdom, native has collected five singles victories during the fall campaign. His doubles partner, Worst, will compete in extra singles matches at the event.
This is the first time the Flames have competed in an ITA Atlantic Super Regional. Prior to this fall, the ITA Atlantic Regional was contested at one site and determined qualifiers for the ITA National Fall Championships. This year, the region was divided into North and South divisions, with the top eight singles players and top four doubles teams from their respective regions advancing to the Super Regional in addition to automatic qualifiers from each division.
