Florida Gators
ITA All-American (Pre-Qual.) - Day 2 of 2
W-Tennis Falls Short in Pre-Qualifying at Riviera/ITA All American
Sunday, October 4, 2009 | Women's Tennis
The University of Florida's Claire Bartlett (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Allie Will (Boca Raton, Fla.) lost their respective singles matches in the final round of the pre-qualifying draw for the Riviera/ITA All American Championships Sunday afternoon at the Los Angeles Tennis Club.
Will, who won her second-round match 6-0, 6-3 late Saturday over Texas' Krista Damico, lost to UNLV's Kristina Nedeltcheva, 6-2, 6-4, in the third round of pre-qualifying action, where Bartlett fell to Akron's Zara Harutyunyan, 6-3, 6-3.
“We learned a lot from today's matches and from what we saw during the pre-qualifying rounds,” UF head coach Roland Thornqivst said. “I'm proud of our effort and how committed we are to learning and improving versus winning right now because making those changes now will help us be better in the spring when it really counts.”
The two-day event served as a feeder into the qualifying draw that takes place Oct. 6-7 at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
While Bartlett's action at the Riviera/ITA All American has finished, Will continues action in the doubles event, where she teams with fellow freshman Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) in the 32-team qualifying draw aiming to earn one of four open spots in the 16-team main draw. UF senior Marrit Boonstra (the Netherlands) and sophomore Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) pair in the qualifying event.
Embree and Will play SMU's tandem of Lesniak and Malyarchikova, the No. 3 seed, while Boonstra and Mather are the No. 2 seed and drew Texas' Corovic and Davison in opening round action, each vying to win three qualifying matches and earn one of the four open positions in the 16-team main draw.
Embree also earned spots in the 64-player qualifying singles draw and will play N.C. State's Lenka Hojckova in the first round that begins on Tuesday.
Boonstra was awarded an automatic berth into the main singles event, which will be played Oct. 8-11 at the Riviera Tennis Club.
The Riviera/ITA Women's All American Championships is the first leg of what is still referred to as the collegiate Grand Slam. From 1986-2001, there were four national events, but the ITA National Clay Court Championships is no longer played.
2009 Riviera/ITA All American Championships Pre-Qualifying
Los Angeles Tennis Club, Los Angeles
Sun., Oct. 4, 2009
UF Results Only
Singles, Round of 16 (final)
(9-16) Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) d. (1) Allie Will (UF), 6-2, 6-4
Zara Harutyunyan (Akron) d. Claire Bartlett (UF), 6-3, 6-3
Sat., Oct. 3, 2009 (some late finishes)
UF Results Only
Singles, Round of 64
(1) Allie Will (UF) d. Ina Hadziselimovic (Clemson), 7-6 (6), 6-1
Suzie Matzenauer (Cal Poly) d. (8) Joanna Mather (UF), 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
Claire Bartlett (UF) d. Morgan Frank (Texas A&M), 7-5, 1-6, 6-3
Singles, Round of 32
(1) Allie Will (UF) d. Krista Damico (Texas), 6-0, 6-3
Claire Bartlett (UF) d. Chelcie Abajain (Illinois), 6-4, 6-1
-UF-
