MASON, Ohio. — Kentucky women’s tennis is set for at least one Wildcat to qualify tomorrow for the NCAA Women’s Singles and Doubles Championship, holding three of the four singles spots in the ITA Regional Semifinals. Asuncion Jadue, Donna Le Roux, and Julia Zhu lead the pack for the Wildcats on what has been a successful few days so far.

To qualify for the NCAA Women’s Singles and Doubles Championship, the student-athletes must be singles finalists or win the doubles championship in your respective region.

Day One: 

Jadue was the lone competitor for singles on day one, playing in two singles matches out of the pre-qualifying draw. First, she defeated Jordan Fenton of UT-Chattanooga 6-3, 6-1. Later that day, she beat Zhanel Rustemova of Middle Tennessee State in a close match, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-1.

Day Two:

Starting off the day with doubles, freshman Georgia Kulevich and sophomore Le Roux teamed up but dropped a match to a pair from ETSU 8-6. Senior Avery Pope and fifth-year Ellie Myers won their first doubles match on Friday, 8-3, over a Xavier doubles duo and Jadue and freshman Norina Bak-Szabo defeated a Murray State pair, 8-2.

In singles, the main draw began. Jadue, who played her way into the main draw with the two wins in qualifying, kept her momentum going as she defeated Saray Yli-Piipari of Tennessee 6-4, 6-2. Sophomore Elena Molla defated Louisville’s [9] Berta Miret 6-3, 6-3, Bak-Szabo dominated Victoria Cooksey from Tennessee state 6-1, 6-0, Zhu beat Audelie Lesauvage 6-2, 6-3, Kulevich came through with the three set victory over Rufaro Magarira from UT-Chatanooga 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, and Le Roux defeated Elizabeth Fauchet of Cincinnati 7-5, 6-2. Ellie Myers fell to ETSU’s Julia Millan 6-1, 6-4.

Day Three:

Pope and Myers opened the day with doubles action, losing a close match to a duo from Indiana 8-7(9). Jadue and Bak-Szabo dominated an Austin Peay duo, 8-1 to move onto the next round, where they won yet again against a Purdue pair, 8-2 to push to the quarterfinals.

Onto Saturday singles, Molla defeated Liam Oved of UT-Chatanooga 6-4, 6-4, Bak-Szabo dropped a match to Mariia Dolzhenko of Lipscomb 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, Zhu beat Elisabeth Dunac of Indiana 6-0, 6-4, Kulevich dropped a match to Lisa Kamigata of Tennessee 6-3, 6-1, Jadue won a match 6-4, 6-4 against [4] Hiilani Williams of Indiana, and Le Roux beat Louisville’s Samaya Smith 6-0, 6-2.

Day Four:

On Sunday, Molla Pons dropped a match to top-seeded Valeria Ray of Vanderbilt 6-3, 6-3, Zhu beat [9] Erin Pearce of Vanderbilt after dropping the first set 3-6, 6-0, 6-1, Jadue continued to get hot by winning a match against Lika Persypkina of Louisville 6-1, 7-5, and Donna Le Roux battled for a win against Tennesse’s [2] Rinon Okuwaki in a close one, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

Day Five:

On Monday, the three Cats of Jadue, Le Roux, and Zhu all won their respective matches to reach the semifinal round. Zhu defeated Deborah Dominguez Collado of Lipscomb 6-3, 6-1, Jadue defeated Tennessee’s Lisa Kamigata 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, and Le Roux beat [5] Sophia Webster of Vanderbilt 7-6(2), 7-5.

Tomorrow, Oct. 13, Zhu will take on Mariia Dolzhenko of Lipscomb and Jadue and Le Roux will play one another. The winner of both matches will make it to the Regional finals and qualify for the NCAA Women’s Singles Championship. Both matches will be at 10 a.m. at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.

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