The day started at 10 a.m. at Cary Tennis Park when Mertena lined up across the net from eighth-ranked, and the No. 5 seed in the tournament, Georgia Drummy of Duke. In a back-and-forth battle, Mertena fended off breaks, saving 9-of-13 break points. When Drummy served, Mertena took advantage of her chances, capitalizing on 6-of-11 break points.
Most importantly, Mertena took advantage when she needed it most. In both the first and second set, the fifth-year senior led 6-5 looking to break for the match and got the job done both times, taking each frame by a 7-5 tally.
“Rebeka was laser focused this past week at practices and trained with determination,” head coach Alison Ojeda said after the match. “I am certain her day-to-day effort in training sessions helped her win today. Like we said earlier in the week, she’s going to have another great opportunity tomorrow and I am sure she is ready for it.”
The victory marks Mertena’s first career top-10 victory and her 21st career ranked win. She advances to the quarterfinals of the tournament where she faces North Carolina’s Anika Yarlagadda who enters the match off of an upset of second-seeded Daria Frayman from Pepperdine.
In doubles consolation action, Mertena and Esther Adeshina advanced to the quarterfinals of the consolation draw after a walkover in the draw due to a withdrawal from Oklahoma State’s Ayumi Miyamoto and Kristina Novak.
Action kicks off at 10 a.m. tomorrow with singles play, followed by doubles at 2 p.m. when Mertena/Adeshina face Jessica Alsola and Katja Wiersholm from Cal.
The matches will be streamed live on Cracked Racquets’ whiparound coverage which can be found here. Playsight streams can be found here.
Full coverage of the event can also be found on the Tennessee Women’s Tennis official Twitter page, @Vol_WTennis or by viewing the streams listed above.
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