University of Minnesota Athletics
Ferrazzi and Koprivica Advance to Doubles Final
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Tennis
Note: Start time for Saturday's matches has been pushed back to 10 a.m.
Alessandra Ferrazzi and Tijana Koprivica teamed up for a pair of victories on Friday and advanced to the main draw doubles final to lead the Minnesota women's tennis team on the opening day of the Gopher Invitational at the Baseline Tennis Center.
Both Ferrazzi and Koprivica also won their opening singles matches as four of the Gophers' six players advanced through the first round. Singles play will continue on Saturday with two rounds beginning at 10 a.m. (note start time is one hour later than original schedule). There is no admission charge to attend the tournament.
Ferrazzi and Koprivica opened with an 8-1 win over Eastern Michigan's Julia Breuss and Miriam Westerink and followed with an 8-5 win over Iowa's Sonja Molnar and Merel Beelen. They will take on Madeleine Geibert and Steffi Weinstein of Nebraska in the doubles final on Sunday at 9 a.m.
In the opening round of singles play, Ferrazzi got past Northern Iowa's Phoebe Walker 6-4, 6-7, 6-1, while Koprivica breezed past Xu Chang of Eastern Michigan 6-1, 6-2. Koprivica's win set up a showdown with Molnar, who is ranked 72nd nationally and the top seed in the draw. The Iowa sophomore was tested by Buffalo's Diana Popescu in the opening round, but prevailed 7-6, 6-2.
Jackie Sperling and Alexa Palen also had wins in both singles and doubles as the pair opened with an 8-5 victory over Abby Buxton and Jennifer Holmberg of Nebraska before falling to Jessica Young and Kelcie Klockenga of Iowa 9-8 with a 7-5 score in the tiebreaker. In singles, Sperling rolled past Alix Bex of Northern Iowa 6-4, 6-0 by winning the final eight games of the match. Palen received an injury default from her first-round opponent to reach the second round.
The Gophers' doubles team of Magdalena Wiecha and Peta Forsyth lost in a tiebreaker in their opening round match to Erin Karonis and Mary Christine Chartier of Iowa State. The Cyclones' team blanked Wiecha and Forsyth 7-0 in the tiebreaker and then the Gophers' tandem dropped their second round match to Denise Harijanto and Popescu of Buffalo 8-2.
Forsyth coasted to a first-set win in her singles match with Tamara Markovic of Buffalo, but Markovic came back to post a 1-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory. Wiecha lost her opening match to Lynne Poggensee-Wei of Iowa 6-4, 6-2.
Players Mentioned
