Ranked No. 84 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s preseason men’s singles standings, Utah junior Slim Hazma led the Utes at the F24 USA Futures held in Costa Mesa, Calif.
Hazma was the last Utah player in the qualifying bracket, but just missed the main draw when he was beaten by Eduardo Nava 6-2, 6-2 in the fourth round.
“I think I did pretty good,” Hamza said. “I won three matches, and I played some really good players. In the last round in the qualies I was a little bit tired but was really close to the main draw.”
Two other Utes made it to the third round of the event. Senior Ben Tasevac fell to USC’s Michael Grant, 6-2, 6-1, while junior Cedric Willems lost to Logan Smith, 6-2, 6-2. In the second round, senior Alejandro Medinilla fell to Andrew Diefenbach, 6-2, 6-0.
The Futures event followed the Utah Fall Tennis Classic, where four Utah players took the court to open the season. The doubles pair of Justin Archer and Cameron Lee made it through to the final round, where they lost to BYU’s Francis Sargeant and Sterling Galli, 8-4.
In singles, Matt Cowley advanced to the semifinal round, where he fell short against BYU’s Andrey Goryachkov. Archer won his first match against Orin Duffin but lost to Matt Pearce.
“We get to play some ranked players, professionally, and we get to play some college students at other universities,” Hamza said. “It just all helps us for the season.”
The Utes will next appear in the ITA All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla., which begins this weekend. Tasevac, Willems and Mednilla will be in the pre-qualifier on Sept. 28, and Hazma will start in the qualifying draw on Sept. 30.
Hamza and Devin Lane were to be the first doubles team since 2005 to represent Utah at the All-American Championships, but Lane had to pull from the tournament because of an injury. Willems will now be playing with Hazma.
“Cedric and I played at the end of last season. We did pretty good, we beat some really good teams,” Hamza said. “I hope we do good in the All-American.”
Looking to the future, Hazma feels it’s going to be a good season, and he is not just pursuing his personal goal of hoping to become an All-American, but he also has a bright outlook for his team.
“We are pretty excited about the season. We have really good players,” he said. “We have these tournaments right now to get us ready for the main season.”