In a weekend filled with matches, the Blue Devils had opportunities to face some of the region’s top players while also getting in match play to prepare for the spring.
Senior Kaitlyn McCarthy paired up once again with junior Meible Chi and looked to stamp their place in the ITA Fall National Championship next month. On the singles end, the two returning Blue Devils were joined by sophomore Ema Lazic, who last took the court for the season-opening tournament in South Carolina. But at this fall’s ITA Carolina Regional in Chapel Hill Thursday through Saturday, Duke came up short.
Although she did not automatically qualify, Chi is still in the running to receive a singles wild card based on her preseason ITA ranking, her unpublished national ranking and her Universal Tennis Rating.
McCarthy and Chi knocked out the Tar Heel duo of Chloe Ouellet-Pizer and Sophia Patel 8-4 before cruising past Appalachian State’s Teodora Sevo and Rebecca Morse 8-2 to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Blue Devil tandem next looked to double up on North Carolina doubles wins, but the duo fell to Cameron Morra and Makenna Jones in a tightly contest 8-6 decision on Saturday.
The third day of the event was not kind to Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth’s team. On the singles side, two matchups awaited McCarthy and Chi Saturday.
After two straight-set victories against opponents from South Carolina and N.C. State, No. 84 McCarthy lost a three-set decision to North Carolina’s No. 27 Sara Daavettila. The Duke senior took the opening frame 6-4, but the Tar Heel recovered to take the final two sets 6-3, 6-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.
No. 31 Chi cruised past Gardner-Webb’s Daniela Naupari 6-1, 6-1 and took the opening set 6-2 from South Carolina’s Silvia Chinellato. But Chi’s Round of 32 opponent took the second set 6-4 to send the match to the decider. In the third, Chi took control and won 6-1.
Morra defeated Chi 6-3, 6-1 to advance alongside her Tar Heel teammate to the final eight.
Although Lazic fell in the opening round of the singles main draw, the sophomore did not come back to Durham empty-handed. The London native defeated South Carolina-Upstate’s Valeria Zarama 6-1, 6-2 in the consolation Round of 32 before seeing a defeat in her next match.
Freshman Maria Mateas returned to the professional circuit in Florence, S.C. last week, advancing to the semifinals with wins against WTA No. 219 and the tournament’s second seed Francoise Abanda in three sets and Texas’s current ITA No. 1 Bianca Turati in straight sets.
But in the Final Four, the freshman lost to former world No. 143 Bianca Andreescu. With the semifinal result, Mateas’ ranking will inch closer to 300.
Duke will be back in action Nov. 2 through Nov. 4 for the Kitty Harrison Invitational in Chapel Hill before closing out the fall slate the next weekend in Arizona.
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