Six singles, two doubles qualifiers still alive in main draw action.
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. (Oct. 4) – With one round of singles and two rounds of doubles in the books at the 2012 Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships, hosted by the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., it is fair to say that a number of results raised a few eyebrows on the opening day of main draw play.
In singles, six players who had to qualify into the main draw advanced to the Round of 16, including freshmen Danielle Collins of Florida and Julia Elbaba of Virginia, both of which began the tournament in the pre-qualifying draw. Collins drew UNLV’s Lucia Batta in the opening round of main draw action, overwhelming the Runnin’Rebel 6-4, 6-2 to cruise into the next round. Elbaba’s draw was significantly tougher, as she took on top-seeded Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar of Texas A&M. The first set was tight, with Elbaba taking it 6-4; she breezed through the second set 6-1 to finish off the stunning upset. One of these two outstanding freshmen will see her run come to an end tomorrow, as the two are slated to face off in the Round of 16.
While only one of the four seeded players survived the opening day in the top half of the singles draw, order was restored in the bottom half with all four seeds emerging victorious. All four players took their matches in straight sets, with the closest match being USC’s eighth-seeded Danielle Lao’s 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Kate Turvy of Northwestern. Third-seeded Lauren Embree defeated last year’s runner-up Jacqueline Cako of Arizona State 6-2, 6-3.
The doubles draw has already been reduced to the final eight duos, with the number of seeds remaining in the field (three) almost equaling the number of qualifiers still alive (two). The top-seeded duo of Sabrina Santamaria and Kaitlyn Christian of USC moved on to the Quarterfinals with an 8-5 defeat of Oklahoma State’s Malika Rose and Kanyapat Narattana. The Women of Troy tandem will try to stop the run of qualifiers Rachel White and Melissa Kopinski from Illinois in the Quarterfinals. Two seeds Courtney Dolehide and Pamela Montez of UCLA fell victim to the other qualifying duo remaining, as Tennessee’s Brynn Boren and Kata Szekely edged the Bruins 9-7 to advance.
2012 Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships action continues from the Riviera Tennis Club on Friday at 9 am PT with Quarterfinal doubles.
For complete coverage of the 2012 Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships, including access to updated draws, please visit ITAtennis.com. Follow the ITA on Twitter, @ITAtennis, for updates and news from Pacific Palisades. Use the hashtag #RivieraITA for all tweets in regards to Riviera, or search the term "RivieraITA" to find others who are tweeting the events from the Riviera/ITA Women's All-Americans Championships, Sept. 29 to Oct. 7. This article was Courtesty of the ITA.
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