EVANSTON, Ill. – No. 4 Auburn women’s tennis defeated host Northwestern in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Friday at the Combe Tennis Center. Auburn claimed the doubles point and earned straight-set victories at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6 singles positions.
“It was an awesome win, and it’s never easy to play the home team,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said. “Northwestern has a great team, and they were playing in front of their home crowd in the first match of Indoors. Even if you’re not playing the home team, these matches aren’t easy. Everyone is a little tight early, and I thought we did a good job getting through that pretty decisively.
“We had some different players playing after Merna (Refaat) unfortunately went down during doubles and wasn’t able to play singles. I’m sure that distracted some of the girls, but we finished with a great performance. We’ll be better for it, and we’ll get ready to go again tomorrow.”
Doubles play began with a retirement at the No. 2 position from the Tigers, meaning Auburn needed to win both remaining doubles matches to secure the first point. On the top doubles court, DJ Bennett and Stefani Webb earned a crucial break to take a 4-2 lead, then rode that momentum to a 6-2 victory. Moments later, Ashton Bowers and Ekaterina Khairutdinova won three straight games to close out a 6-2 win and clinch the doubles point.
Doubles point goes to the Tigers 🐅
— Auburn Women's Tennis (@AuburnWTennis) February 6, 2026
Here’s our crew for singles ⬇️#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/7pRvPwwht7
In singles, Khairutdinova built a 4-1 advantage in the opening set before winning 6-2. Trailing 4-1 in the second set, Northwestern’s Neena Feldman held to love to close the gap to 4-2, but the Auburn senior won the next two games, including the final return game on a deciding point, to secure the straight-set victory. Khairutdinova remains perfect in dual matches this season with a 6-0 singles record.
Auburn sophomore Alice Battesti won each of the first three games, including two return games, against Mika Dagan Fruchtman before cruising through the opening set 6-1. Dagan Fruchtman took an early 3-1 lead in the second set, but Battesti responded by winning five consecutive games to complete the straight-set victory, earning her 11th singles win of the season and giving Auburn a 3-0 advantage.
On the top singles court, DJ Bennett defeated No. 39 Margot Phanthala 6-3 in the opening set. The two sides traded breaks early in the second set before Bennett held to love and earned a break to take a 4-3 lead. Bennett went on to win on a deciding point in the final game, 6-3, 6-4, to clinch the match for the Tigers.
The win improves Auburn’s record to 12-0 and advances the Tigers to the quarterfinal round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. Auburn will face the winner of Friday evening’s match between No. 8 Oklahoma State and No. 9 NC State at 3:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at the Combe Tennis Center.
Live video and live scoring for each match throughout the championship will be available at wearecollegetennis.com. CrackedRacquets will also provide broadcast-style coverage on its YouTube channel.
#4 Auburn 4, Northwestern 0
Singles Results:
- DJ Bennett (AUB) def. Margot Phanthala (NU) 6-3, 6-4
- Ekaterina Khairutdinova (AUB) def. Neena Feldman (NU) 6-2, 6-2
- Angella Okutoyi (AUB) vs. Autumn Rabjohns (NU) 5-7, 6-3, 0-0, unfinished
- Ashton Bowers (AUB) vs. Maia Loureiro (NU) 7-6 (2), 2-5, unfinished
- Ava Esposito (AUB) vs. Marelie Raath (NU) 7-6 (3), 4-2, unfinished
- Alice Battesti (AUB) def. Mika Dagan Fruchtman (NU) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles Results:
- DJ Bennett/Stefani Webb (AUB) def. Mika Dagan Fruchtman/Neena Feldman (NU) 6-2
- Margot Phanthala/Erica Jessel (NU) def. Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) 3-2, ret.
- Ekaterina Khairutdinova/Ashton Bowers (AUB) def. Marelie Raath/Maia Loureiro (NU) 6-2
Time of match: 2:14 Order of finish: Doubles: 2,1,3; Singles: 2,6,1 Official: Andrew Rodgers