University of Florida freshman Olivia Janowicz (Palm Bay, Fla.) won a pair of matches and advanced to the Flight 1 singles final to highlight the second day of action at the ninth annual Freeman Memorial Championships held at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the UNLV campus.
Janowicz defeated North Carolina’s Shinann Featherston 6-0, 5-7, 6-1 in the quarterfinals before downing Gator teammate Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) 7-5, 7-5 to reach the championship match that will be played on Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. PST.
Mather earned an impressive 6-3, 6-3 victory against Stanford’s Kristie Ahn in her quarterfinal match.
Freshman Alex Cercone (Seminole, Fla.) dropped a tough 7-6, 6-3 quarterfinal decision to Arizona State’s 34th-ranked Kelcy McKenna.
“We’re really playing at a high, high level of singles; today’s play really showed that,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “After a tough day on the doubles court, we were able to turn things around in singles, where Joanna had a good win against Stanford’s Kristie Ahn (6-3, 6-3). It was fantastic, high-level tennis. Olivia defeated North Carolina’s Shinann Featherston and played an excellent third set. Alex lost a tough match and ran out of gas a little bit.”
Florida began the day on the doubles court, where Cercone and Janowicz lost to UCLA’s McCall Jones and Maya Johansson, 8-5, while Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) and Mather fell to Arizona State’s Kelcy McKenna and Micaela Hein, 8-4
“Neither doubles team played well today, it was like we were sleep walking a bit,” Thornqvist said. “We’re going to redeem ourselves in doubles on Sunday. The players were talking about it themselves on the bus ride back to the hotel.”
The Gator quartet joins athletes from No. 1 Stanford, No. 5 UCLA, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 19 USC, No. 20 Arizona State as well as the University of Oregon and host UNLV, ranked No. 29.
Women’s Tennis Freeman Memorial Championships
Fertitta Tennis Complex
Las Vegas
Saturday, January 15, 2011
UF Results Only
Singles, Flight 1 Third Round (Round of 8)
(6) #34 Kelcy McKenna (ASU) def. (4) #28 Alex Cercone (UF), 7-6, 6-3
(5) #30 Joanna Mather (UF) def. (3) #23 Kristie Ahn (STAN), 6-3, 6-3
(2) #22 Olivia Janowicz (UF) def. (8) #54 Shinann Featherston (UNC), 6-0, 5-7, 6-1
Singles, Flight 1 Semifinals
(2) #22 Olivia Janowicz (UF) def. (5) #30 Joanna Mather (UF), 7-5, 7-5
Doubles, Flight 1, First Round (Round of 16)
(2) #28 Kelcy McKenna/Micaela Hein (ASU) def. Joanna Mather/Lauren Embree (UF), 8-4
(4) McCall Jones/Maya Johansson (UCLA) def. Olivia Janowicz/Alex Cercone (UF), 8-5
Team Codes:
ASU = Arizona State
OU = Oregon
STAN = Stanford
UF = Florida
UNC = North Carolina
USC = Southern California
