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CARY, N.C. – Texas women’s tennis freshman Carmen Helea advanced to the second round of the singles main draw at the ITA National Championships on Tuesday in Cary, North Carolina.
Helea defeated No. 73 Eleana Yu (Duke University) 7-6 (2), 6-3, making it her sixth consecutive win in the tournament, which began with a qualifying draw.
In the first set, which had eight deuce points, Yu broke one of them to start the match, but Helea broke back to hold a 2-1 lead. Yu then broke to take a 3-2 lead, but Helea responded again to make it 3-3. Yu made a third break at deuce point and regained the lead at 5-4, but just as he had done after the previous two breaks, Helea fought back again and broke back at deuce point to tie the score. , and also successfully defended the deuce point. 6-5 lead. Yoo then held and took the set to a tie-break, where Herrea jumped out with leads of 3-0 and 6-1, finishing the set at 7-2.
In the second set, Helea took the lead with a break and hold, holding a 2-0 lead. She broke again to make it 4-1, but Yu broke back and held deuce points for the next two games to get within 4-3. It was as close as she could get, as Helea won with a hold and a deuce point break. Next, Helea will face No. 10 seed Julia Fleigner of Michigan State, No. 12, at 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT.
Shortly after, freshman No. 104 Ashton Bowers came very close to winning within the top five, but lost in a third-set tiebreaker to No. 5 seed Ange Obey Kajuru of Oklahoma State. They fell short by 2-6 and 6-. 3, 7-6(5).
Bowers took the lead in the first set, with Kajuru on serve for the first three games, leading 2-1 before closing it out on a 5-0 run. Bowers’ run included scoring the final 10 points of the set.
In the second set, Bowers led 2-1 and 3-2 before breaking at deuce point, but Kajuru went on a 4-0 run from there to force a deciding set. In the third, Bowers broke to take a 3-1 lead, but Kajuru answered and started a 3-0 run to take a 4-3 advantage. Bowers broke back and held to regain the lead at 5-4, holding serve for the remainder of the set heading into a tiebreak. Kajuru jumped out to a 4-1 lead, and Bowers tied it at 5-5, but Kajuru secured the final two points and won. Bowers was scheduled to advance to a repechage match against Gavia Puskauskas (North Carolina State), but entered the tournament by default.
2024 ITA Women’s National Championship
tournament central
Singles Main Draw Round of 64 – Wednesday, September 25th
Carmen Herea (TEXAS) vs. #73 Eleana Yu (DUKE), 7-6(2), 6-3
5th Seed #5 Ange Obey Kajuru (OKST) def. #104 Ashton Bowers (Texas), 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
Singles Main Draw Round of 32 – Thursday, September 26th
Carmen Helea (Texas) vs. 10th Seed #12 Julia Fleegner (MICH), 1:30pm ET/12:30pm CT
Singles Main Draw Repechage Round of 32 – Thursday, September 26th
#104 Ashton Bowers (Texas) vs. Gavia Puskauskas (NCSU), Wo – Bowers
