TULSA, Okla. – Texas A&M’s Saska Gavrilovska (pronounced saush-ka gav-ril-ov-ska) saw her run in the NCAA Division I Women’s Singles Championship come to an end in the second round as she fell to 33rd-ranked Arianne Hartono of Ole Miss, 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 today at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.
Gavrilovska, a junior from Serbia who is only the second player in Texas A&M history to compete in the prestigious tournament each of the first three years of her career, won a no-ad point to break Hartono and take a 4-2 lead in the opening set. Both players held serve for the remainder of the frame as Gavrilovska, ranked a career-high 24th in the ITA singles rankings, went on to win, 6-3.
Both players struggled to hold serve in the second set. Hartono, a sophomore from the Netherlands, was the first to hold and then broke Gavrilovska once again to go up, 4-2. Gavrilovska, however, would win the next three games to go up 5-4. Hartono broke back to put the set back on serve at 5-5, but Gavrilovska won a no-ad point to break Hartono to go up 6-5. Gavrilovska, who entered the match 17-1 this season when winning the first set, was then serving for the match, but Hartono broke for her fifth time in the frame to tie the score at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker.
Gavrilovska, Texas A&M’s lone representative in the NCAA individual tournament, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the tiebreaker, but Hartono won the next two points to tie the score. Gavrilovska then built a 4-2 lead, but Hartono countered by winning three consecutive points to take her first lead, 5-4. Gavrilovska tied the score at 5-5, but Hartono went on to win the next two points to take the tiebreaker, 7-5, and force a third set.
Hartono, who had lost to Gavrilovska, 6-2, 6-1, in a regular-season Southeastern Conference matchup on March 13 in College Station, raced to a 5-0 third-set lead and went on to win the final set, 6-1, to advance to the Round of 16, thereby automatically earning All-America status.
Gavrilovska, who upset No. 9-16 seed and ninth-ranked Stephanie Wagner of the University of Miami, 7-6 (8), 6-4, in the first round on Wednesday and would have become only the second two-time All- American in the history of the Texas A&M women’s tennis program had she reached the Round of 16, finishes her season 20-11.
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NCAA Singles Championship – Texas A&M results:
64 #24 Saska Gavrilovska (Texas A&M) def. #9 Stephanie Wagner [9-16] (Miami), 7-6 (8), 6-4
32 #33 Arianne Hartono (Ole Miss) def. #24 Saska Gavrilovska (Texas A&M), 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1
Story courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics