Florida’s Alex Cercone (Seminole, Fla.), Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) and Sofie Oyen (Leopoldsburg, Belgium) all advanced to the third round of the 2010 Riviera/ITA Women’s Tennis All American Championships pre-qualifying draw on Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Rain delayed action on the first day of play, resulting in a late night for all competitors, but the Gators came through by posting a combined 7-1 singles and doubles record.
Cercone, Mather and Oyen play their respective third round matches on Sunday afternoon, aiming to win one more round and reach the qualifying round. Qualifying and main draw matches will be played at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., where qualifying action is scheduled for Oct. 5-6, with the main draw held from Oct. 7-10.
“I thought we played very, very well today,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “We’re hitting the ball well and we’re competing really well. Alex played and won a tiebreaker and Sofie battled back from a 4-2 deficit in her second match to earn a straight set win. We showed great play and good mental toughness. Overall, I thought it was a great day.”
Eight athletes will advance to the qualifying singles portion of the week-long tournament, which is the first national singles and doubles event of the season. The Riviera/ITA Women’s Tennis All American Championships also is considered the first leg of the collegiate Grand Slam.
Cercone (pronounced sir-CONE) won both of her singles matches against nationally-ranked opponents and will play Georgia’s Alina Jerjomina on Sunday at noon Pacific time for the right to move into the qualifying draw of the national event. Cercone defeated Harvard’s No. 114th-ranked Hideko Tachibana, 6-4, 7-6 (2), before downing SMU’s No. 117-th-ranked Heather Steinbauer,
Mather earned a 6-4, 6-0 first-round victory over Utah’s Evgenia Kryuchkova, before defeating LSU’s No. 122nd-ranked Whitney Wolf, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2.
Oyen (pronounced OY-yen) earned an impressive 6-0, 6-3 victory against Louisiana-Monroe’s 101st-ranked Claire Clark in her collegiate debut, before turning her attention to Harvard’s Kristin Norton, whom she took out 6-3, 6-4.
On the doubles court, Cercone and Caroline Hitimana (Waterloo, Belgium) defeated UCLA’s Maya Johansson and Carling Seguco, 9-7, in the first round and will play Tulane’s Levy and Kurdadze on Sunday in the first of what will be two rounds played. The winners of each of those third-round contests advance to the qualifying draw, playing for the right to compete in the main draw.
Gator junior Claire Bartlett (Chattanooga, Tenn.) dropped her first round singles contest to Maryland’s Ana Belzunce.
Live scoring updates on all rounds of the tournament will be provided on www.itatennis.com.
2010 Riviera/ITA Women’s Tennis All American Championships Pre-Qualifying
Los Angeles * Los Angeles Tennis Center
Saturday, October 02, 2010
UF Results Only
Singles, First Round (Rnd of 64)
(98) Joanna Mather, UF d. Evgenia Kryuchkova, Utah, 6-4, 6-0
Alex Cercone, UF d. (114) Hideko Tachibana, Harvard, 6-4, 7-6 (2)
Sofie Oyen, UF d. (101) Claire Clark, Louisiana-Monroe, 6-0, 6-3
Ana Belzunce, Maryland d. Claire Bartlett, UF – score not reported
Singles, Second Round (Rnd of 32)
(98) Joanna Mather, UF d. (122) Whitney Wolf, LSU, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2
Alex Cercone, UF d. (117) Heather Steinbauer, SMU, 7-5, 6-2
Sofie Oyen, UF d. Kristin Norton, Harvard, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles, First Round (Rnd of 32)
Alex Cercone/Caroline Hitimana, UF d. Maya Johansson/Carling Seguco, UCLA, 9-7
