BERKELEY – California men's tennis will host the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships from Thursday through Monday at the Hellman Tennis Complex, Channing Tennis Courts and Hearst Tennis Courts, with qualification to the fall's top national tournament as the prize for the field of over 100 singles players and over 50 doubles teams competing in Berkeley.
 
Players from 15 schools – Cal, Stanford, Oregon, Washington, Eastern Washington, Pacific, Gonzaga, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Fresno State, Saint Mary's, Sacramento State, Santa Clara and UC Davis – will compete in the regional. The singles and doubles draws are available here.

Thursday's action will include the opening main draw singles round of 128 and the opening main draw doubles round of 64, with matches beginning at 8 a.m. 

Live streaming and live scores are available for the six courts at the Hellman Tennis Complex from this page. The matches will also be played at the Hearst Tennis Courts on campus and the Channing Tennis Courts near campus. Please also follow the Golden Bears on Twitter @CalMensTennis for tournament updates. Admission is free.
 
The regional's main draw singles and main draw doubles champions will earn berths to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships from Nov. 3-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
 
Cal seniors Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat have already garnered entry as a doubles team into national indoors, and Lakat has also qualified for indoors in singles, due to their success in the recent Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships (see below).
 
Last Time: Bergevi and Lakat Capture All-American Championship
Filip Bergevi and Florian Lakat captured the California program's second doubles title at the Saint Francis Health System ITA Men's All-American Championships when the Golden Bear seniors beat a pair from North Florida in the final on Oct. 10 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The second-seeded and second-ranked Cal duo bested UNF's unseeded and unranked Jack Findel-Hawkins and Lasse Muscheites, 6-4, 6-2, at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa.
 
For reaching the doubles final, the two Bears qualified to play in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships. Lakat also qualified for indoor singles when he reached the singles quarterfinals at the All-American.
 
Bears Celebrate 125 Years of Cal Tennis
Cal men's tennis is celebrating the 125th year of the program, which has produced multiple national champions and All-Americans in its storied history. The perennial powerhouse, which was founded in 1892, has won three national team titles, four national singles titles and 14 national doubles championships from NCAA, USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Championships and ITA All-American Championships. The Golden Bears have also captured several conference singles and doubles titles as well.
 
Now in his 24th year as head coach at his alma mater, Peter Wright has coached 17 players who combined to earn 18 All-America honors and led the 2015-16 squad to the NCAA team semifinals. Wright has earned his share of accolades along the way, including his third Pac-12 Coach of the Year award last season and selection into the USTA NorCal Hall of Fame in the summer of 2015.
 
Poll Position
The Oracle/ITA preseason singles and doubles rankings will stand through the fall, with new singles and doubles rankings – as well as the first team poll – slated to come out on Jan. 5, 2017. Cal seniors Florian Lakat and Filip Bergevi claimed the No. 2 spot in the preseason doubles rankings. Last season, the pair advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship and earned All-America doubles honors after posting a 16-5 record. Also in the preseason singles poll, four Bears earned rankings: Lakat (18-12 record last year) is 13th, senior Andre Goransson (25-14) is ranked 17th, Griffith (27-8), a junior, stands at No. 61 and Bergevi (25-6) is ranked 77th.
 
Next Time
Before sending some Golden Bears to compete in the national indoor tournament in November, Cal will host a Berkeley Futures professional tournament - that will also include some Bears - from Oct. 17-23 at the Hellman Tennis Complex.