ORLANDO, Fla. – Earning the first individual NCAA Tournament victory in her illustrious Vanderbilt career, 43rd-ranked Christina Rosca defeated 44th-ranked Emmanuelle Salas 7-5, 6-3 in the Round of 64 on Sunday afternoon.
Rosca got off to a hot start in the straight-set victory, earning an early break to go up 2-0. While the two players traded breaks throughout the first set to stay even at 2-2 and 4-4, it was Rosca who earned a late break to turn a 5-5 tie into a first-set victory at 7-5.
In the second, the two went back and forth before a Rosca break put her well on her way, holding Salas off down the stretch to clinch the 7-5, 6-3 victory.
Onward‼️
No. 43 @chrisrosca beats No. 44 Salas 7-5, 6-3 to reach the Round of 32.
She’ll meet Miami’s Isabella Pfenning tomorrow, who is one of the No. 9-16 seeds. #AnchorDown | #NCAATennis pic.twitter.com/7pol3VEr0m
— Vanderbilt Women’s Tennis (@VandyWTennis) May 23, 2021
Now with 115 career singles wins, Rosca is alone in third for the most singles victories by a Vanderbilt student-athlete across a career. She passed Julie Ditty with Sunday’s win.
“Really solid match from Christina to get through to the Round of 32,” said head coach Aleke Tsoubanos. “Salas played well and came up with really big shots throughout the match but fortunately Chris was able to weather the storm and convert on some really big points. She has worked so hard and earned this opportunity and is competing beautifully. Monday will be another really high-level match with Isabella Pfennig from Miami.”
Advancing to the Round of 32 on Monday, Rosca will take on 10th-ranked Pfennig of Miami. Match time in Orlando will be announced Sunday evening. Pfennig struggled through her first matchup, needing a comeback to beat No. 35 Anna Turati of Texas by a scoreline of 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
