University of Georgia Athletics
Travis Helgeson Wins ITA All-American National Championship
October 08, 2007 | Men's Tennis
“This is an awesome win for Travis,” said Georgia head coach Manuel Diaz. “It was a great effort in both the semis Saturday and the finals Sunday. He really had to draw from within to get through to the finals. In the finals he played one loose game and found himself down a set but did a tremendous job of finding a way to win. He really dug deep. The significance of today’s match is not only did he win a big national title but that he was really able to keep his composure and did a tremendous job of focusing under that kind of pressure. Both players played well today and Travis did a tremendous job to win this national title.”
Helgeson entered the tournament as the No. 4 seed and battled through a field of 64 of the nation’s top players to win the title. He becomes the second Georgia player in the last three years to win the All-American crown, joining former Bulldog John Isner, who captured the title in 2005.
Helgeson’s road to the championship was as follows:
Rd. of 64 def. Michael James, Penn State, 6-4, 6-1 Rd. of 32 def. Daniel Vallverdu, Miami, 7-6(6), 6-3 Rd. of 16 def. [9-16] Ivan Puchkarov, Oklahoma State, 6-3, 6-2 Quarterfinals def. Alex Clayton, Stanford, 6-2, 6-2 Semifinals def. [1] Somdev Devvarman, Virginia, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 Championship def. Robert Farah, USC, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
The UGA men’s tennis squad was also in action at the Georgia Tech Invitational in Atlanta, Ga. Sophomore Jamie Hunt (San Antonio, Texas) fell in the finals of the singles A’ draw, fighting a tough three-set battle against tournament champion Guillermo Gomez. After winning the first set 6-4, Hunt dropped the second by the same score. Gomez then won the third set, 7-5, taking home the win by a final score of 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
In the consolation A’ draw, sophomore Christian Vitulli (Mombasa, Kenya) came out on top with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Emmanuel Nkoueleue of Georgia Southern.
In doubles matches not yet reported, two Bulldog duos reached the semifinals late Saturday before falling to a pair of teams from Georgia Tech. Vitulli and Hunt lost to Miguel Muguruza and Eliot Potvin, 8-3, while freshman Drake Bernstein (Winder, Ga.) and Josh Varela (Watkinsville, Ga.) were taken down by Scott Blackmon and Ryan Smith, 8-4.
