College and University Championships Set to get Underway at Rexall Centre 

August 15, 2007 - The inaugural College and University National Championships will kick off on Thursday at Rexall Centre in Toronto during the Rogers Cup presented by American Express.

The event is the first of it’s kind in Canada and will feature 16 of the brightest college stars in the country.  A total of eight male and eight female athletes will compete for the coveted title of national champion from August 16-18. Participants qualified for the tournament by winning regional playdowns contested throughout the summer in Alberta, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

Leading the way in the men’s draw will be Ontario’s Michael Rockman who is the all-time singles victory leader at the University of Buffalo as well as a distinguished student athlete. In his opening match, Rockman will face Zachary Rath of Montreal. Rath is a former U18 provincial champion and currently acts as the head teaching professional at the Cote-St-Luc Tennis Club. On the other side of the draw, second-seeded Vancouver native Peter Graeme Kassautzki will take on Adam Becker of Halifax who plays his college tennis at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The other two first round match in the men’s draw will see Toronto’s Bryon Weinberg measure up against Kamil Pajkowski and Quebecer Keziel Juneau battle Zachary Radetzky of Alberta.

Meanwhile, Torontonian Katarina Zoricic leads a strong women’s field that also includes former top-ranked BC junior star Monika Neveklovska and Quebec standout Melanie Roy. During her stellar career at the College of William and Mary, Zoricic had held a No. 1 NCAA ranking in doubles. The 20-year old will play Vancouver’s Amanda Mankovits in her opening match. Neveklovska will take on Quebec’s Marie-France Lord-Andrade and Roy has a first round date with Toronto’s Joelle Fisher. Calgary’s Elly Strother and Sarah Plowman of Halifax will face off in the fourth first round women’s match. 

The men’s and women’s finals will be web cast live from Court 1 on tenniscanada.com on Saturday August 18 beginning at 3:00 p.m.  
  

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