STILLWATER, Okla. – Auburn fifth-year senior Carolyn Ansari became the fourth player in Auburn Women's Tennis program history to record 100 career singles victories after earning a straight set win to open the NCAA Singles Championship on Monday at the Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
"Carolyn [Ansari] did a great job of fighting through the conditions today," said Auburn interim head coach Lester Cook. "It was really windy so there was a lot of tough points, but she really stepped up in the tiebreakers and did a great job closing out the sets."
Ansari and Oklahoma's Florencia Urrutia remained close during a first set that was tied at five different points before entering a tiebreaker that Ansari claimed 7-2. Down 4-5, the Auburn senior won back-to-back games to take a second set lead before ultimately entering another tiebreaker. Ansari then ran away with the tiebreaker 7-1 to earn the opening round victory.
The Greensboro, North Carolina native was impressive in return games, winning over half of the total return points and 70 percent of second serve return points over Urrutia. With the win, Ansari will face North Carolina's Anika Yarlagadda in the round of 32 at 9:30 a.m. CT.
The senior now joins Fani Chifchieva, Georgie Axon and Alex Haney as the only Tigers to reach the century mark in singles victories.
A 💯 career
— Auburn Women's Tennis (@AuburnWTennis) May 21, 2024
With today's win, @carolynansari has become the fourth player in program history to reach 100 singles wins in a career 👏#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/3uaczdEUJX
Sophomore DJ Bennett also played in the first round of the singles championship on Monday, but fell to Janice Tjen of Pepperdine by a 6-3, 6-1 score.
On Tuesday, Bennett will be back in action for the first round of the NCAA Doubles Championship alongside partner Ariana Arseneault. Bennett and Arseneault will face Fangran Tian and Elise Wagle at 7 p.m. CT.
"Looking forward to doubles where Ariana [Arseneault] and DJ [Bennett] can make a deep run in this tournament," continued Cook. "Carolyn is looking great to keep moving forward in the draw as well."
Live coverage of the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships will be available on ESPN+ and live scoring will be available online at ioncourt.com.
NCAA Singles Championship Round of 64 Results:
Carolyn Ansari (AUB) def. Florencia Urrutia (OKLA) 7-6 (2), 7-6 (1)
Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. DJ Bennett (AUB) 6-3, 6-1