Flushing, N.Y.--Georgia State senior
Victor Valente takes on the nation's No.1-ranked singles player in Henrique
Cunha from Duke in the first round of the 2012 USTA/ITA National Indoor
Intercollegiate Championships hosted at the USTA Billie Jean King National
Tennis Center.
Singles
and doubles play at the event begin at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 8. Valente begins his match at 2 p.m. There are a
variety of ways to follow Valente's match including through live stats, live
audio and a live blog. The host of the event, Columbia University, will be
updating its tournament central page throughout the day.
Valente
earned an at-large invitation to the event, the first in GSU men's tennis
history to do so, by reaching the finals at the ITA Southeast Regional
Championships. Along the way, Valente defeated two nationally-ranked opponents including
a 6-1, 6-1 win vs. the No. 84-ranked Michael Alford (Florida) in the first
round. He also took down Georgia Tech's 30th-ranked Juan Spir in the
semifinals by a 7-6 (3), 6-4 score.
Cunha,
like Valente, reached the finals of his ITA Regional Championship before
falling in the championship match. He entered the year as the top-ranked player
in the ITA Preseason Men's Singles Rankings list. He advanced to the
quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championship last year in Athens, Ga.
Valente
and Cunha share many similarities other than both reaching the finals of their
respective ITA Regional Championships this fall. Both are left-handed players
and also hail from the same state, Sao Paulo, of their native country Brazil.
Visit
the GeorgiaStateSports.com for daily updates on Valente's play at the 2012
USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. The Panthers, led by
first-year head coach Joerg Barthel, have played their final team tournament
for the fall and have begun preparations for the spring dual-match season in
2013.
