Oct. 3, 2006
TULSA, Okla. – David North advanced to the 3rd round when No. 17 seed Haythem Abid of UCLA retired 6-4, 5-0, in the second round of qualifying at the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Tulsa.
North, one of the top-16 seeds in the prequalifying tournament, earned a bye in the first round and quickly dispatched Old Dominion’s Rodrigo Souza Saturday afternoon, 6-3, 6-2. The Durban, South Africa native then advanced to the qualifying draw with a 6-4, 6-0 victory Sunday in his third round match against Aaron Phillips of Ball State. North then defeated Rice’s Ben Harknett in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3 in Monday’s first round of the qualifying tournament.
North will face fellow qualifier Cosmin Cotet of TCU Wednesday in the third round of the qualifying tournament. North and teammate Eric Molnar, originally scheduled to compete as No. 1 seeds in Tuesday’s qualifying doubles tournament, will now compete in the first round of the Main Draw Thursday.
The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships include five days of qualifying events that precede the October 5-8 main draw. The 128-player prequalifying tournament took place Sept. 30-Oct. 1. This fed into 128-player and 64-doubles team qualifying tournaments Oct. 2-5, which then feeds into the 64-player, 32-doubles team main draws.
The Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships offer the first national singles and doubles titles of the 2006-07 collegiate tennis season, and are followed by the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships in November and the third event is the season-ending NCAA Championships in May.
Livestats for all matches at the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Championships can be found at www.tulsahurricane.com.
Georgia Tech in Prequalifying Tournament:
(R1) David North (GT) advanced via bye
(R2) North (GT) def. Rodrigo Souza (ODU), 6-3, 6-2
(R3) North (GT) def. Aaron Phillips (Ball St.), 6-4, 6-0*
*North advanced to Qualifying Tournament with victory
Georgia Tech in Qualifying Tournament:
(R1) David North (GT) def. Ben Harknett (Rice), 6-4, 6-3
(R2) North (GT) def. Haythem Abid (UCLA), 6-4, 5-0, retired
