Oct. 24, 2010

Singles Draw | Doubles Draw

WACO, Texas - Junior Sona Novakova earned quarterfinal berths in both singles and doubles, with partner Nina Secerbegovic, at the USTA/ITA Texas Regional on Sunday at the Baylor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.

Novakova had a full day of action, with two singles and one doubles match, winning all three. In singles play, she beat Texas Tech's Nikki Sanders in straight sets in her first match 6-4, 6-4. In her second singles match, Novakova battled through a first-set, 6-4 loss to SMU's Shahazoda Hatamova, but took the second 6-4. Novakova was holding a 3-1 lead in the third when Hatamova retired due to injury.

In the doubles, Novakova and Secerbegovic continued to make strides as a pair with a hard-fought win over Texas rivals Amanda Craddock and Cierra Gayton-Leach. The Baylor duo was pushed to a tie-break, but won the match 9-8 (4) to move on to the quarterfinal round.

"Sona found a way to win today in all of her matches," head coach Joey Scrivano said. "I love the way she competed and kept her mind on the task at hand. Nina and Sona are getting comfortable playing together and it's starting to show on the court."

Also competing in both singles and doubles on the day, Karolina Filipiak wasn't as fortunate as her teammate. In singles, Filipiak forced a third set against Rice's Dominique Harmath. Harmath took the first 6-3, but Filipiak won the second 6-2, forcing a tie-break in the third. Harmath then won the match with a 7-6(4) third set.

"Karolina made a nice run in this event and played a tough match today," Scrivano said. "She is making strides in her game and that's going to really help us in the spring."

In doubles, Filipiak joined forces with Cristina Danaila against TCU's Federica Denti and Katariina Tuohimaa. The TCU duo defeated Baylor 8-3.

Competing in singles consolation play, Danaila won her first match of the day, a 6-1, 6-1 win over Sam Houston State's Nadio Dubyanskaya before retiring with an injury down 6-4, 2-1 to North Texas' Paula Dinuta.

The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds will take place on Monday, Oct. 24, followed by the finals on Tuesday, Oct. 25.