NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Though the fall finale for the majority of the Yale women's tennis team was this past weekend at the Big Green Invite, Jessie Gong and Samantha Martinelli will both be headed to Newport Beach, California for the 2019 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships to conclude the team's fall season.
Martinelli was one of 40 individuals who were granted direct entry into the main singles draw. She is one of three Ivy Leaguers, joined by Iluia Bryzgalova of Penn and Zoe Howard of Princeton.
Gong and Martinelli were granted automatic entry into the main draw of doubles as a result of their win at the ITA All-American championships a few weeks back. They will be looking to replicate that result, though will be facing a more robust field.
Play will begin Wednesday with the first round of singles and doubles. The finals will be played on Sunday the 10th.
The Oracle ITA National Fall Championships features 128 of the nation's top collegiate singles players (64 men and 64 women) and 64 doubles teams (32 men's team and 32 women's teams). In its third year, having replaced the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, it is the lone event on the collegiate tennis calendar to feature competitors from all five divisions playing in the same tournament.
A total of 40 men and 40 women earn automatic qualification into the singles draw based on their performance in a series of prior fall events (Oracle ITA Masters, Milwaukee Tennis Classic, ITA All-Americans, ITA Cup and ITA Regionals). Additionally, one Oracle Wild Card, two ITA Wild Cards and 21 at-large selections per gender receive entry into the championships. The doubles championships provide 19 automatic qualifiers per gender, with one Oracle Wild Card, two ITA Wild Cards and 10 at-large selections completing the field.
Seven of the top 10-ranked individuals in the Oracle ITA Division I Preseason National Rankings are in the women's singles draw, including No.2 Estela Perez-Somarriba (Miami, Fla.), No. 4 Alexa Graham (North Carolina), No. 5 Kelly Chen (Duke), No. 6 Michaela Gordon (Stanford), No. 7 Sara Daavettila (North Carolina), No. 8 Anna Rogers (NC State) and No. 9 Jada Hart (UCLA).
The women's singles draw also includes ITA Cup Champions Tatiana Simova (ASA Miami; Junior College), Elyse Lavender (Brenau; NAIA), Justine Leong (Claremont-Mudd-Scripps; NCAA DIII) and Berta Bonardi (West Florida; NCAA DII).
The top-ranked tandem of Anna Rogers/Alana Smith highlight the women's doubles field.
Sunday's singles finals at the Newport Beach Tennis Club will air live on ESPN3 with Bryan Fenley, Marc Lucero and Jasmine Minor describing the action. Both finals will re-air on ESPNU with dates and times to be announced.
Complete draws will be released on Tuesday.
