WACO, Texas - Auburn’s DJ Bennett and Merna Refaat each won their respective opening round matches at the NCAA Singles Championship at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, on Tuesday. Bennett defeated Purdue’s Carmen Gallardo Guevara 6-4, 6-1 while Refaat defeated Oklahoma State’s Gracie Epps by a 6-1, 6-4 score.
Bennett and Gallardo Guevara traded games until the first set was tied at four, when Bennett earned a break and the next game to claim the opening set 6-4. The Auburn junior dominated the second set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before ultimately winning the set 6-1 to close the match in straight sets. Bennett tallied three aces in the match and claimed 67 percent of her service points.
“DJ [Bennett], in her second time playing this tournament, had a tough go last time but had a really good win today,” said Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo. “Kind of a tough first set then started playing way better. Valeria [Zeleva] did a great job helping her through that and getting her to play some of her best tennis in the second set and get a win.”
One court over, Refaat was looking to earn her first NCAA singles championship victory. With the opening set tied at one, the Auburn freshman won each of her next five games to claim the first set 6-1. Epps started the second set hot by winning each of the first two games before Refaat earned two breaks to take a 3-2 lead.
The Auburn freshman then won her fifth game in the second set without allowing a point to take a 5-3 lead, then ultimately won the match 6-4. Refaat won over half of the return points in the match, claiming 27 of the 49.
“Merna [Refaat], in her first NCAA Tournament, had a very clinical win,” said Szabo. “She played really good tennis. I think it was a little tough in the second set, and she pulled out a great win for her. Awesome effort for a first semester player.”
Later in the day, Auburn junior Angella Okutoyi fell to Mao Mushika of California 6-3, 6-2 to end her run at the singles title.
“It's a tough one for Angie [Okutoyi],” Coach Szabo said. “Her opponent had a tough game style, but hopefully she can learn a lot from it. She's had a good fall and gotten better and better with every match, so I'm excited to see what's next for her.”
Both Bennett and Refaat will play in the round of 32 on Wednesday. The NCAA Doubles Championship, which features Bennett and Ava Hrastar, will also begin with the round of 32 on Wednesday. One round for each event will be played each day with the championship match on Sunday. Both events will be played in a single elimination format.
On Wednesday, Bennett will face Old Dominion’s Sofia Johnson and Refaat will play Tennessee’s Elza Tomase in the second round of the singles championship at 9 a.m. CT. Bennett and Hrastar’s first round doubles matchup in the doubles championship will be played against Appalachian State’s Isabella Romanichen and Savannah Dada-Mascoll at 5:30 p.m. CT.
Television coverage of the NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship will be available on ESPN+. Live scoring for each match will also be available online at ioncourt.com.
Tuesday Results:
#32 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. Carmen Gallardo Guevara (PUR) 6-4, 6-1
Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Gracie Epps (OKST) 6-1, 6-4
#107 Mao Mushika (CAL) def. #82 Angella Okutoyi (AUB)