Tigu wins in NCAA first round

ATHENS, GA. — University of Arkansas junior Anouk Tigu (24-10) clinched her first NCAA singles tournament victory Wednesday, defeating Reka Zsilinszka (29-12) of Duke, 7-5, 6-2, in straight sets at the McGill Tennis Center in Athens, Ga. With the victory, Tigu will move on to the second round to face Lenka Broosova of Baylor.

“This was an excellent performance today from Anouk (Tigu),” said head coach Michael Hegarty. “Zsilinszka had a 12 match winning streak coming in to today, so nothing was easy out there today.”

Coming into this match winning five of her last six matches to go final, Tigu, ranked No. 29 by ITA, had a little trouble closing out the first set after being up 5-1, but was able to prevent it from going to a tiebreaker as she won it 7-5.

The second set did not prove to be anymore of a challenge for Tigu as Zsilinszka barely scratched across two game winners, giving Tigu the victory, 6-2, the first of her Razorback career in the tournament. The win also broke Zsilinszka’s 12-match winning streak that she brought into the tournament.

On Thursday, Tigu will look for her 25th win of the season against Lenka Broosova (33-7) of Baylor. Broosova is currently ranked No. 5 in singles by ITA and defeated Florida State’s Lauren McCreless, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 to reach the second round.

If Tigu wins her match, she will qualify as an all-American and join the ranks of Maria Pavlidou, Chin-Bee Khoo and Aurelija Miseviciute as the only Razorbacks to earn the honor in program history.

Tomorrow’s match will be played at the McGill Tennis Center on the University of Georgia campus. For live scoring of the match, visit the tournament homepage at http://www.itatennis.com/Events/DivisionINCAAChampionships.htm.

For complete coverage of Tigu’s play in the singles tournament and continuing coverage of the Razorback women’s tennis team, visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

Download: 2010WSingles-7.pdf