Florida International University’s Lazaro Stuns Field at Oracle ITA National Fall Tennis

Andrea Lazaro

No. 29-ranked Andrea Lazaro of Florida International University upended the field last week at the inaugural Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, in the women’s final on Sunday in Indian Wells, Calif., upsetting No. 11 Samantha Harris of Duke 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.

“This is a tremendous honor and I’m so happy,” said the Barcelona native, a senior who celebrated her 23rd birthday on Saturday with a win in the semifinals, and won three three-set matches during the week.

The tournament was the first appearance in the ITA National Fall Championships for a member of the FIU women’s tennis program, and Lazaro’s win marked her first career championships title.

Other Florida players also took home consolation-draw honors as the University of Florida’s Anna Danilina and Michigan’s Alex Knight (Miami Shores, Fla.) won the women’s and men’s singles titles, respectively, while Florida’s Chase Perez-Blanco and Oliver Crawford captured the men’s doubles title.

Nuno Borges of Mississippi State claimed the main draw men’s singles title with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over No. 3 Petros Chrysochos of Wake Forest. Chrysochos and Skander Mansouri won the men’s doubles title with a 6-2, 6-2 decision versus the No. 8-seeded team from Texas, Rodrigo Banzer and Leonardo Telles.

In the women’s doubles final Stanford’s Emily Arbuthnott and Michaela Gordon topped the Ole Miss duo of Alexa Bortles and Arianne Hartono 6-4, 6-1.

The Oracle ITA National Fall Championships is the concluding event of the fall portion of the collegiate tennis season. The next ITA national event is the 2018 ITA Kick-Off Weekend, which takes place Jan. 26-29, 2018, across 30 campus sites.

For more info go to www.itatennis.com.