The
University of Florida’s Alex Cercone (Seminole, Fla.), Caroline
Hitimana (Waterloo, Belgium) and Olivia Janowicz (Palm Bay, Fla.) completed
the opening day of action at the 10th annual Freeman Memorial
Championships at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the UNLV campus.
Cercone
and Janowicz won their respective first round singles matches, but lost in the
round of 16 of the elite field. The Gator pair teamed earlier in the day and
defeated North Carolina’s Shinann Featherston and Lauren McHale, 8-6, in the
first round of the 16-team doubles event.
Cercone,
the seventh-seeded in the singles tournament and 41st-ranked player in the
country, defeated Arizona State’s Nicole Smith, 6-2, 6-2, and lost to Stanford’s
Stacey Tan, 6-4, 6-2.
Janowicz
earned a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory against UCLA’s Carling Seguso, before dropping a
hard-fought 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 decision to North Carolina’s eighth-seeded and 44th-ranked
Zoe De Bruycker.
“It
was great tennis for Olivia, Zoe was just better today and you tip your hat to
her,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said.
Hitimana
dropped her first round outing to fourth-seeded and 18th-ranked
Sabrina Santamaria of Southern California, 6-3, 6-4, and her second round
opponent defaulted.
Action
continues on Saturday with doubles at 10 a.m. PST. The finals is scheduled for
Sunday. Admission to all matches is free. The event features two flights each
of both singles and doubles along with consolation rounds.
