Nov. 4, 2012

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Dominika Kanakova and Ximena Siles Luna from the South Carolina women’s tennis team captured singles titles Sunday at the New Mexico Fall Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., at the Linda Estes Tennis Center. It marked the final event of the fall for the Gamecocks.

Siles Luna upended Kristin Eggleston of New Mexico 6-4, 6-3 in the finals of the Black Singles flight for her third win of the tournament in straight sets. The freshman from Peru ends her fall season leading the Gamecocks in singles victories with a stellar 12-2 record. She and Adriana Pereira also won the doubles title in their respective flight Saturday to give Siles Luna a perfect 6-0 record at the event.

Kanakova, playing in just her second singles event of the fall, posted a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Natasha Smith from Utah in the championship match of the Silver Singles flight. Kanakova posted a 4-1 mark in singles this fall in her two tournaments.

Jaklin Alawi snagged a 6-1, 6-4 win versus New Mexico’s Nikolina Grbac to earn third place in the Cherry Singles draw. Alawi was second on the squad this fall in singles victories with a 9-7 mark.

Josefin Andersson also picked up a win on the day in the consolation finals of the Silver Singles. She defeated Gabi Vazquez from UTEP 6-2, 6-0 to end her fall with a 6-7 record.

The Gamecocks will begin dual match play in January. Their full spring schedule will be released later this year.

CHERRY SINGLES
#63 Jaklin Alawi, USC, def. Nikolina Grbac, UNM, 6-1, 6-4 (3rd Place)

SILVER SINGLES
Josefin Andersson, USC, def. Gabi Vazquez, UTEP, 6-2, 6-0 (Consolation Finals)
Dominika Kanakova, USC, def. Natasha Smith, UU, 6-4, 6-2 (Finals)

TURQUOISE SINGLES
Marie Leblonde, UTEP, def. Adriana Pereira, USC, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 (3rd Place)

BLACK SINGLES
Ximena Siles Luna, USC, def. Kristin Eggleston, UNM, 6-4, 6-3 (Finals)
Kendall Warren, TTU, def. Alex Martin, USC, 7-5, 7-6 (3rd Place)

LEGEND
TTU = Texas Tech
UNM = New Mexico
USC = South Carolina
UTEP = Texas-El Paso
UU = Utah