Jan. 16, 2010
The Purdue women's tennis team opened the Hilton Garden Inn Eagle Invite on Saturday in Ft. Myers, Fla., by advancing four individuals and two doubles teams to semifinal matches in their respective brackets.
"I was pleased with our first day," head coach Laura Glitz said. "I thought we competed hard and got a lot of match experience that will help prepare us for our dual matches next weekend."
Junior Bhavani Tirumurti, playing in the No. 3 singles draw, started her tournament off with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Andrea Lewis from Missouri. Tirumurti is set to face Stephanie Roy from Arkansas in Sunday's semifinal round. Sophomore Anna Dushkina also advanced to the semifinal round of her draw after defeating Florida A&M's Kathline Durden 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 4 singles bracket. Dushkina is matched up with Prang Pantusart from Akron on Sunday.
Freshman Imogen Golder, who joined the Boilermakers earlier this week, won her first singles competition as a Boilermaker. The Auckland, New Zealand, native rolled to a 6-4, 6-0 win over Akron's Anya Baronayte to advance to the No. 5 draw semifinal, where she will face North Florida's Lauren Holton on Sunday. Sophomore Remi Martin, playing in the No. 7 singles draw, advanced with a dominating 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Lauren Peters from Northwestern State. Martin is matched up with Bibiana Almeida from the host Eagles in the semifinal.
South Florida's Ecaterina Vasenina, the 52nd-ranked singles player in the NCAA, bettered senior Michelle Sammons 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the No. 1 singles draw. In the No. 2 singles draw, another Bull knocked sophomore Jennifer Rabot into the consolation bracket as Melissa Koning picked up a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory. Due to an injury to her Sunday opponent, Rabot advanced to the consolation final and is slated to play for fifth place Monday. Sophomore Kay Kay Magi battled hard but ultimately fell in the No. 6 singles draw. Alexis Brown from Florida A&M was able to earn a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win against Magi to move her into Sunday's consolation semifinal.
Sammons and Rabot teamed up and defeated Florida A&M's Rachel Pye and Latreece Olagbegi 8-3 in the No. 1 doubles draw. Purdue's top duo squares off with Irene Rehberger and Koning, the eighth-ranked doubles team in the NCAA, Sunday for a spot in the final.
Martin and Dushkina also advanced while playing in the No. 2 doubles draw. They defeated Britney Dean and Bethany Holt from Florida A&M 8-5 and are set to face South Florida's Ecaterina Vasenina and Allyn Mueller in the semifinal. Tirumurti and Golder were placed in the No. 3 doubles draw and fell to Melanie Aguirre and Victoria Krook 8-5.
The Hilton Garden Inn Eagle Invite continues Sunday. Action begins at 8 a.m. ET from the FGCU Tennis Complex.