Auburn surges into semifinal rounds of NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships

Singles Bracket Doubles Bracket
Auburn surges into semifinal rounds of NCAA Singles & Doubles ChampionshipsAuburn surges into semifinal rounds of NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships
Mario Terrana

WACO, Texas – Auburn junior DJ Bennett punched her ticket to the semifinal round of the NCAA Singles Championship at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas, on Friday after defeating Virginia's Elaine Chervinsky by a 7-5, 5-7, 6-0 score. The junior joins Fani Chifchieva in 2008 as the only Tigers to reach the event’s semifinals.

On Friday afternoon, Bennett and Ava Hrastar became the first Auburn doubles team to reach the semifinals of the doubles portion of the championship since Pleun Burgmans and Emily Flickinger in 2014 after coming back to take down Isabel Pascual and Jade Otway of TCU 4-6, 6-4 [10-7].

“In the second set, I lost my aggressiveness on my forehand,” Bennett said after her singles victory. “She was taking advantage of that on balls landing short. I made sure to bring back what I did in the first set, and I think playing for how long we had played was an advantage.”

Bennett and Chervinsky went back-and-forth in the opening set until the set was tied at five. Bennett then dominated the next game, a serve game that included an ace, by not allowing a point to take a 6-5 advantage. She then won the next game on a crucial deciding point to claim the opening set. The two then held serve in each of the first ten games of the second set to make the score tied at five. Chervinsky, the 74th ranked singles player in the nation, then won a crucial deciding point of her own in a return game to take a 6-5 lead and ultimately won the set 7-5 to force a third set.

The Auburn junior came out strong in the deciding set, taking the first game in just five points. Now with the momentum, Bennett cruised through the remainer of the set, posting a third set bagel to win the match.

The Belleview, Florida native won over 70 percent of her serve points and took advantage of second-serve return points, claiming 13 of 21.

Bennett joined Ava Hrastar on Friday afternoon to play Isabel Pascual and Jade Otway in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship. With the opening set tied at three, Pascual and Otway pulled away late to claim the set 6-4. The TCU duo then won each of the first two games of the second set to put the Tigers in danger of elimination. Bennett and Hrastar then won the next three games to take a 3-2 set lead. The two teams traded games until the set was tied at four.

Bennett and Hrastar then won their next serve game to take a 5-4 lead and did not allow a point in the final game of the set to force a 10-point tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, the Auburn pair jumped out to a 5-1 lead before TCU closed the advantage to 6-5. Bennett and Hrastar ultimately prevailed in the tiebreaker 10-7 to move onto the next round.

“Honestly I went into the match with no expectations, just trying to play,” Hrastar said after the doubles victory. “It wasn’t looking good for a little while but I’m just happy that we were able to get it together at the end.”

Auburn is the only team to have participants in the semifinals of both the women's singles and doubles championships, while Bennett is the only women remaining in both the singles and doubles championships.

On Saturday, Bennett will begin the day against Julia Garcia Ruiz of Oklahoma in the singles semifinals at 10 a.m. Then, Bennett and Hrastar will face Olivia Center and Kate Fakih of UCLA in the doubles semifinals no earlier than 12:30 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.

 

Friday Results:

#32 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. #74 Elaine Chervinsky (UVA) 7-5, 5-7, 6-0

#18 DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (AUB) def. #12 Jade Otway/Isabel Pascual (TCU) 4-6, 6-4 [10-7]