Gamecocks Head to Winston-Salem for ITA Regional

Oct. 17, 2012

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Six members of the South Carolina women’s tennis team will compete in the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional Championships beginning Thursday in Winston-Salem, N.C. Wake Forest is hosting the event that brings the top women’s tennis players from the states of North Carolina and South Carolina to the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center.

Winners of the singles and doubles championships played Monday will earn automatic berths to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, the second Grand Slam tournament of the season. The National Indoors take place over Nov. 8-11 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

Ximena Siles Luna, Alex Martin and Josefin Andersson will compete in the qualifying singles draw where players must win two matches in order to reach the main draw. Jaklin Alawi, Dominika Kanakova and Katerina Popova will also compete at the event.

In the doubles main draw, Alawi and Kanakova are listed as the No. 1 seed for the event and have a bye in the first round. They are scheduled to compete Friday, as are Martin and Siles Luna who also have a first-round bye. Andersson and Popova will take on a duo from Appalachian State in the first round on Thursday.

Alawi and Siles Luna have the most singles victories this fall with four each. In doubles, Alawi and Kanakova have seen the most playing time together and have a 3-3 record to lead the Gamecocks. Alawi has the most doubles wins as an individual with five. She is also the lone ranked player for Carolina in singles at No. 63.