AUBURN, Ala. – Two Auburn players advanced to their respective flight finals as the Tigers tallied five total wins Saturday on the second day of the Marliss Gruver Fall Invitational at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
Freshman Selin Ovunc and senior Georgie Axon stayed unbeaten in singles play on the weekend and will play for the championship in their flights with victories Saturday afternoon.
"The reason we play fall events is to improve," Auburn head coach Caroline Lilley said. "I love that all of the girls have faced adversity over the last couple of days because development requires being outside of our comfort zone. We found responses today and played bold in the big moments. As a program, we prioritize a long-term, process-oriented outlook, and tomorrow is another opportunity for us to grow as competitors and as a team."
Ovunc won her third straight singles match to advance to the final of the Blue draw with a hard-fought 7-6 (7), 7-5 win over Ole Miss' Tereza Janatova. She will face Kansas State's Rosanna Maffei in the final on Sunday; Maffei downed Auburn's Madeline Meredith 6-3, 6-1 in the other main draw semifinal.
In the Orange draw, Axon won in straight sets over Yale's Rhea Shrivastava, 6-4, 6-3, to secure her spot in the bracket final. She will face Kansas' Julia Deming Sunday morning.
Senior Taylor Russo also bounced back in singles with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Taylor Bortles of Ole Miss to secure a spot in the Orange draw fifth-place match.
In doubles, both Auburn teams posted a 1-1 day. The 46th-ranked team of Meredith and Russo won their first match of the season with a 6-3 victory over Bojczuk/Taylor of Notre Dame, but then fell to Vrbenska/Janatova from Ole Miss 6-4 in the Blue draw semifinals. In the Orange draw, Ovunc and Axon dropped their opening match to Job/Mesquita from Kansas State, 6-2, but bounced back to defeat Manu/Deming of Kansas 6-3 in the second round.
The Marliss Gruver Fall Invitational concludes Sunday morning with one round each of doubles and singles. Doubles play gets underway at 8 a.m. with singles immediately following. Admission is free to all Auburn home tennis events.
For the latest on Auburn women's tennis, follow @AuburnWTennis on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Day 2 Auburn Results
Doubles
#46 Meredith/Russo (AU) def. Bojczuk/Taylor (ND), 6-3
Job/Mesquita (KSU) def. Ovunc/Axon (AU), 6-2
Vrbenska/Janatova (OM) def. #46 Meredith/Russo (AU), 6-4
Ovunc/Axon (AU) def. Manu/Deming (KU), 6-3
Singles
Selin Ovunc (AU) def. Tereza Janatova (OM), 7-6 (7), 7-5
Rosanna Maffei (KSU) def. Madeline Meredith (AU), 6-3, 6-1
Georgie Axon (AU) def. Rhea Shrivastava (Yale), 6-4, 6-3
Taylor Russo (AU) def. Alexa Bortles (OM), 6-4, 6-4