Oct. 6, 2017
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – After a challenging day out on the courts, Fernanda Contreras will represent the Vanderbilt women’s tennis team in the Riviera/ITA All-American semifinals tomorrow afternoon.
Ranked No. 63, Contreras is the second commodore in as many years to represent VU in All-American semifinals, following Astra Sharma in 2016. Contreras is on a six-match win streak and is one of two qualifiers still in tournament play, being joined by Florida Atlantic’s Aliona Bolsova in semifinals.
“Honestly, I’m just in shock after today,” laughed Contreras. “I just kept telling myself that it’s never too late for a comeback and to never give up. I took some time away from tennis studying aboard in South Africa this summer, and during that time I watched a lot of tennis. Once I started playing tournaments again I tried to put into practice all I learned, and that’s really helped me here in California.
“All throughout qualifiers and main draw I’ve just felt so lucky and happy to be competing out here with some of the best players in college tennis. I plan to take tomorrow’s semifinal one point at a time and focus on playing physical tennis. Last year Astra (Sharma) set the bar for our team, and I’m excited to play another match.”
Battling all the way through qualifiers, the Commodore continued success on the West Coast with victory over No. 5 Karla Popovic in the round of 16. The 6-3, 6-3 victory is a career-high ranked singles victory for the junior who prior to today had never defeated a top-25 opponent.
Contreras picked up her second ever top-25 win later in the day against No. 25 Jessica Livianu of St. John’s. Livianu opened the match taking the first set, however Contreras would not go away quietly, fighting back after a 4-1 second set deficit to force a third set, 6-4.
The two opponents competed toe-to-toe late in the third and final set, which ultimately led to a dramatic third-set tiebreaker. Keeping in mind all she learned throughout her pervious All-American matches, Contreras made four-straight winners to clinch the match and her place in semifinals, 3-6, 6-4,7-6(6).
One day after knocking off the No. 1 doubles team in the nation, No. 43 Christina Rosca found herself against the No. 1 singles player in the nation; UCLA’s 2017 ITA Rookie Player of the Year and Pac-12 Singles Player of the Year, Ena Shibahara.
Rosca played with intensity throughout the quarterfinal battle, taking the victory in straight-sets while limiting the talented All-American to five games, 6-3, 6-2.
The Commodore out of Princeton, N.J. fell in All-American quarterfinals to Florida International’s Andrea Lazaro. Rosca took the first set advantage, 6-3, but Lazaro battled back to limit the Commodore to three games throughout the remainder of the match, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
In doubles action, Rosca and Emma Kurtz faced Syracuse’s 47th-ranked Gabriela Knutson and Miranda Ramirez. Reeling off their tournament win over No. 1 Fahey and Najarian, the Vandy duo battled hard throughout the quarterfinal matchup, but fell to the Orange in a close 8-6 competition.
Contreras is slated to face Texas Tech’s second-ranked Gabriela Talaba at 1:00 p.m. CT.