Michigan
ITA Midwest Regional Qualifying
Dudhela, Shafner Complete Qualifying at ITA Regional
10/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Event: Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships
Scoring: No Team Scoring
Next U-M Match: Friday, Oct. 20 -- Main Draw at Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships (East Lansing, Mich.)
Dudhela, Shafner Complete Qualifying at ITA Regional
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Freshman Tanvi Dudhela (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty HS) of the University of Michigan women's tennis team fell just short of qualifying for the singles main draw at the 2006 Wilson/ITA Midwest Regional Championships, held at Michigan State's Indoor Tennis Facility. Dudhela claimed a pair of straight-set victories on Thursday (Oct. 19) to put herself into position to claim one ofeight qualifying spots, but a three-set defeat on Friday (Oct. 20) ended her bid at joining five Wolverine teammates in the 64-player main draw.
Dudhela posted a pair of decisive wins in the first two rounds of action, knocking off Bowling Green's Ashley Jakupcin (6-3, 6-2) and Valparaiso's Rachel Janssen (6-1, 6-4). Dudhela looked primed to wrap up a qualifying spot after claiming the first set (6-2) against Iowa's Merel Beleen in the third round, but Beelen rebounded to take the final two sets (6-1, 6-1).
Junior Allie Shafner (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek HS) split a pair of qualifying matches on Thursday. After shutting out Youngstown State's Gina Peretti (6-0, 6-0) in the opening round, Shafner exited the tournament with a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Eastern Michigan's Vanessa Frankowski.
Michigan will field three pairings for the 64-team doubles main draw, which begins later this afternoon. Senior Jenny Kuehn (Leipzig, Germany/Sportgymnasium Leipzig) will team with sophomore Chisako Sugiyama (Parsippany, N.J./The Montclair Kimberley Academy), senior Kara Delicata (LaSalle, Ontario/Sandwich Secondary School) will compete with classmate Elizabeth Exon (Irvine, Calif./Woodbridge HS), and Shafner will play with freshman Tania Mahtani (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula HS).
Delicata, Exon, Kuehn, Mahtani and Sugiyama will begin singles play tomorrow (Saturday, Oct. 21) at 9 a.m.
Following are match-by-match results:
Tanvi Dudhela
First Round -- d. Ashley Jakupcin (Bowling Green), 6-3, 6-2
Second Round -- d. Rachel Janssen (Valparaiso), 6-1, 6-4
Third Round -- l. Merel Beelen (Iowa), 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
Additional Match -- d. Noriko Saruta (Western Michigan), 6-4, 1-6, 1-0(8)
Finished with a 3-1 record
Allie Shafner
First Round -- d. Gina Peretti (Youngstown State), 6-0, 6-0
Second Round -- l. Vanessa Frankowski (Eastern Michigan), 6-2, 6-4
Finished with a 1-1 record
Contact: Marc Ressler (734) 763-4423
Players Mentioned
