Photo : Neena Channan
The Tevlin Challenger is well underway and with the final eight players duking it out today for a chance to reach the semifinals, there’s been a good number of surprises.
The quarter-finals featured Canadians Victoria Mboko and Marina Stakusic, with both securing epic comebacks to reach the semifinals.
Mboko faced Japanese Haruka Kaji in the second match of the day resulting in a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory. Taking it in three sets, the Canadian came back from a dropped first with a thrilling second set that ended in a tiebreaker. The third and final set was slightly less contested as Mboko walked away with a hard-fought victory to send her to the semifinals.
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The aforementioned Stakusic took on Swiss Lulu Sun in a match that went the former’s way in three sets for a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 victory. Stakusic started off shaky in the first set, but fought her way back in the second set that led to a tiebreaker, ending in her favour. The third and final saw Stakusic in fine form as she broke Sun’s serve twice, including her final service game, to ice the match.
The first match of the day featured a battle between Croatian Jana Fett (3rd) and American Louisa Chirico (7th). The match went in Fett’s favour, as she took it in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-4. The first set ended in a tiebreak that resulted in multiple breaks of serves, while the second capped the match with a lengthy final game that saw Fett breaking Chirico’s serve to finish it off.
Hungarian Justina Mikulskyte returns to the quarter-finals once again after being bested in the same round a week ago in the Saguenay Challenger by Australian Arina Rodionova. In a heated rematch today, Mikulskyte won in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, effectively exacting her revenge from her loss a week ago in Saguenay.
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In the doubles draw, the team composed of Canadian Kayla Cross and her American partner Liv Hovde didn’t face much trouble against their opponents, Louise Kwong and Anna Ulyashchenko. They bested them in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
The second semifinal doubles game went between sisters Carmen and Ivana Corley versus Jaeda Daniel and Ava Markham, the former of whom won the game in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.
The doubles final will see a matchup between the Corley sisters versus Cross and Hovde tomorrow.
The singles semifinal is set to go down tomorrow with Mboko taking on Fett and Stakusic squaring off Mikulskyte. The first will begin at 11:00 a.m. while the second will take place at 1:00 p.m.
