Tennis Recap: ITA Sectionals

Man Fail to Advance

Oregon men’s tennis wrapped up play at the ITA West Sectional Championships in Berkeley, where Vlad Breazu and Lachlan Robertson both opened their fall seasons with hard-fought matches.

Breazu battled through a tight first set against Cal’s Timofey Stepanov, taking it to a tiebreak before dropping the frame. He continued to push in the final two sets but ultimately fell 7–6, 2–6, 2–6.

Robertson also pushed his opening set to a tiebreak in his matchup with UC Irvine’s Hiroki Sakagawa. After narrowly dropping the first set, he was unable to shift momentum and fell 7–6, 6–1.

Ladies Make Strong Showing

Junior Tilde Jagare’s strong run at the ITA Sectional Championships came to an end Saturday in the quarterfinals at the Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center.

Jagare opened the tournament with a straight-set win on Thursday, defeating UNLV’s Nikol Mircheva 6–4, 7–5 to reach the Round of 16. She followed with another straight-set victory, topping Washington’s Carina Surtveit 6–4, 6–3.

A semifinal spot was on the line when Jagare faced UCLA’s Mayu Crossley, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 81 nationally. Jagare matched Crossley shot for shot but came up just short in a pair of tight sets, 6–4, 6–4.

Jagare was aiming to qualify for the NCAA Fall Championships in Orlando later this month and finishes the fall with a 7–2 singles record.

Freshman Virginia Crocker also had a standout week after earning an invitation to the professional ITF W15 event in Lincoln, Nebraska. Competing in the qualifying draw, Crocker battled past Portugal’s Amalia Suciu in three sets, 3–6, 7–6 (3), 10–7, to reach the main draw. She then outlasted Canada’s Anna Tabunshchyk 6–2, 6–7 (4), 6–3 to advance to the Round of 16 before her run ended against Kazakhstan’s Sonja Zhiyenbayeva, 6–0, 6–3.

ITA SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Singles Bracket
Nordstrom Tennis Center – Seattle, Wash.
Round of 32
Tilde Jagare (Oregon) def. Nikol Mircheva (UNLV), 6-4, 7-5
Round of 16
Tilde Jagare (Oregon) def. Carina Surtveit (Washington), 6-4, 6-3
Quarterfinal
No. 81 Mayu Crossley (UCLA) def. Tilde Jagare (Oregon), 6-4, 6-4