Wins Pile Up On First Day Of Redbird Invitational

NORMAL, Ill. – It was a successful first day at the Redbird Invitational for the Illinois State women's tennis team, as it combined to sweep every doubles match and win all but one singles matchup on Friday at the Gregory Street Courts in Normal.

The day began with doubles matches, and reigning MVC No. 1 Doubles Team of the Year Tara Damnjanovic and Tijana Zlatanovic rolled to a pair of wins over duos from Eastern Illinois and Valparaiso. New pairing Alexandra Abyasova and Silvia Pomarolli also picked up two victories with a 6-0 sweep of Jhaveri and Sobieski of Valpo and a hard-fought 7-6 win over the team of Bezmenova and Belogliadova from Bradley.

In Flight 3, the pairing of Nevena Kolarevic and Elena Jankulovska only dropped one set in wins over Bradley (6-0) and Valpo (6-1) and in Flight 4, Othilia Brodin and Zoe Limparis took down Pilipovic-Kljajic and Snyder of Eastern Illinois by a score of 6-2.

After doubles concluded, the singles matches took the court and the Redbirds picked up wins in six of the seven matches played in the four flights. Kolarevic picked up a win in Flight 1 over Elizaveta Bukraba-Ulanova of Eastern Illinois by a final of  7-6 (7-2), 6-1 and both Abyasova and Damnjanovic picked up straight-set wins in Flight 2 to advance to the semifinals on Saturday.

In Flight 3, Jankulovska and Pomarolli both earned straight-set victories to move on in the winners' bracket and in Flight 4, Poleksic cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win in her lone singles match of the day.

Day two of the Redbird Invitational begins at 10 a.m. Saturday morning with doubles once again, followed by singles in the afternoon.

RESULTS:

Flight 1 Doubles:
Zlatanovic/Damnjanovic (ISU) def. Gouws/Brown (EIU) 7-6 (7-5)
Zlatanovic/Damnjanovic (ISU) def. Czerwonka/Silva (VU) 6-2

Flight 2 Doubles:
Abyasova/Pomarolli (ISU) def. Jhaveri/Sobieski (VU) 6-0
Abyasova/Pomarolli (ISU) def. Bezmenova/Belogliadova (BU) 7-6 (7-4)

Flight 3 Doubles:
Kolarevic/Jankulovka (ISU) def. Rogers/Pukhina (BU) 6-0
Kolarevic/Jankulovka (ISU) def. Tabanera/Bertino (VU) 6-1

Flight 4 Doubles:
Brodin/Limparis (ISU) def. Pilipovic-Kljajic/Snyder (EIU) 6-2

Flight 1 Singles:
Silva (VU) def. Zlatanovic (ISU) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
Kolarevic (ISU) def. Bukraba-Ulanova (EIU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-1

Flight 2 Singles:
Abyasova (ISU) def. Andrade (BU) 6-2, 6-2
Damnjanovic (ISU) def. Tabanera (VU) 6-3, 6-4

Flight 3 Singles:
Jankulovska (ISU) def. Sobieski (VU) 7-6 (7-1), 6-3
Pomarolli (ISU) def. Martinez (BU) 6-2, 4-0 retired 

Flight 4 Singles: 
Poleksic (ISU) def. Pilipovic-Kljajic (EIU) 6-1, 6-3

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