Go Britton Go!

from the Clarion-Ledger:

UM freshman Britton wins NCAA tennis title

May 25, 2009

COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS — Ole Miss freshman Devin Britton of Brandon won the NCAA national championship in men’s singles today, becoming the first player in the program’s history to win a singles title in men’s tennis.

Britton, 18, beat Ohio State senior Steven Moneke 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, coming from behind at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the Texas A&M campus to close out the season with his 14th consecutive singles victory.

Britton finished with a 29-9 record in singles in his first season with Ole Miss.

“It is a pretty awesome feeling (to win the national championship),” said Britton, who cut his tennis teeth at Colonial Country Club, Parham Bridges Park and River Hills Tennis Club in Jackson, then trained for three years trained under renowned coach Nick Bollettieri at the IMG Academy in Brandenton, Fla. “It’s great for Mississippi tennis. It was just an unbelievable tournament. I couldn’t be happier.”

“He pulled it off,” said longtime Ole Miss coach Billy Chadwick. “He’s the man. It was a unique run, but the thing is, he’s the type of player, when he gets on a roll, he’s hard to stop. He had some big serves and applied pressure. We’re extremely excited.”

Britton is the first American-born player to win the NCAA singles title since Alex Kim of Stanford in 2000. He’s the first freshman since 19-year-old Cecil Mamiit of USC (1996) to win the national title and first non-seeded player since Luke Smith of UNLV in 1997. He is the youngest of the three freshmen to win the singles title, including John McEnroe, who was 19 when he won it for Stanford in 1978.

Britton, who was unseeded, defeated three seeded players en route to his national title run and ended Moneke’s 22-match winning streak.

Moneke broke Britton at 4-3 in the first set and then held for 6-3 victory in set one.

Britton broke Moneke twice to win the second second 6-2, then broke him for a 4-2 lead en route to a 6-3 victory in the third set.

“My ground strokes weren’t really going anywhere in the first set,” Britton said. “I didn’t make him play that much. I served well in the beginning, but towards the last few service games in the set, I started missing a lot of first serves. When I missed the first serve, I knew I was in trouble. He returns very well. I wasn’t winning by much when I was hitting second serves. I definitely picked up my serve in the second and third sets and was able to attack his second serve, similar to yesterday. I got a rhythm going on the serve.”

Britton won six matches in six days to win the title. That was after helping Ole Miss reach the Final Four in the team championships.

“When you get a national championship, that says it all,” Chadwick added. “You took down everyone in Division I tennis. It came down to the last set against a tough opponent. To be a freshman, from Mississippi, who is just now scratching the surface of his potential, is very impressive. It’s a great day for Ole Miss and a great day for the state of Mississippi. I think Devin made a smart move coming to college.”

Britton enrolled at Ole Miss in January, four months after finishing second in the U.S. Open junior championships.