TEMPLETON, September 25, 2024 (by Steve Pratt)
Wild card Anastasiya Lopata stopped short of calling her big upset on Tuesday over Canada’s Carson Branstine the biggest win of her young pro career at the sixth annual EPIC Central Coast Tennis Classic taking place at the Templeton Tennis Ranch.
The 19-year-old Lopata from Kiev, Ukraine, and a junior at the University of Georgia, gained entry into the women’s $60,000 ITF World Tour and USTA Pro Circuit event by winning the singles title at the Battle in the Bay collegiate tournament played two weeks ago at UC-Berkeley.
“I don’t know, maybe not,” said Lopata when asked if the 6-1, 6-1 victory over a player ranked No. 277 in the world was her biggest win. “I have also played a lot of good players in the NCAAs.”
At last season’s NCAAs Individuals, Lopata became the lowest ranked player to ever reach an NCAA Championship final.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Lopata, who will next face another Canadian in No. 2-seeded Rebecca Marino, who eliminated Jessica Failla, 7-5, 6-1.
Top-seeded Renata Zarazua from Mexico, ranked No. 78 in the WTA world rankings, opened up play with a convincing straight-set win over Dejana Radanovic from Serbia. Zarazua made a finals run here last year and is a fan-favorite in Templeton.
Following the Zarazua match on Stadium Court, the Cal Poly women’s tennis wild card team of Peyton Dunkle and Amy Leather played a competitive match against Indian Houghton and Camille Kiss before falling, 6-4, 7-5.
Iryna Shymanovich from Belarus, the No. 8 seed, had little trouble eliminating Tara Moore from Great Britain, 6-0, 6-2, in just 1 hour and six minutes in one of the other four main-draw singles matches.
Qualifying concluded on Tuesday as San Diego’s Alyssa Ahn won her second straight match to earn a spot into the main draw. The 17-year-old high school senior headed to Stanford University next year beat Slovakia’s Martina Okalova, 7-6 (4), 1-6, 4-6. Ahn next plays Katrina Scott on Wednesday.
Qualifiers who won matches on Tuesday included: Stefania Rogozinska Dzik (Poland), Maria Kononova (Russia), Veronica Miroshnichenko (Russia), Cadence Brace (Canada) and American’s India Houghton, Jenna Delfalco and Rasheeda McAdoo.
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