Four Players Represented the Hurricanes in the Main Draw at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships

Oct. 5, 2006

PALASADES, Calif. – Today marked the first day of the main draw at the Riviera/ITA All-American Tennis Championships. No.1 ranked Audra Cohen Laura Vallverdu won in first round singles. Audrey Banada and Romy Farah won in first round doubles.

Today proved to be a successful day for the Hurricanes in the main draw with Audra Cohen defeating No.20 ranked Celia Durkin of Stanford, 6-3, 6-4 in first round singles. Cohen automatically qualified for the main draw based on her preseason women’s singles ranking.

Freshman Laura Vallverdu also came up big in the first round of the main draw with a win of three sets in singles over No.11 ranked senior Ann Yelsy, 7-6, 7-3, 6-2 of Stanford. Yesterday, in the final round of qualifying singles, Vallverdu defeated Sanaz Marand of North Carolina, 6-3, 6-0.

In first round doubles, No. 7 ranked Audrey Banada and Romy Farah had a big win over the No.10 ranked team from Texas A&M. The Miami duo defeated Tiffany Clifford and Sarah Foster 8-6. Tomorrow the Hurricanes will face No.3 ranked Catrina Thompson and Christina Thompson, a pair of sisters from Notre Dame in the quarter finals of main draw beginning at 9:00 a.m. (PST).

Tomorrow a back draw will be played by Cohen and Vallverdu.

Yesterday No. 71 ranked Audrey Banada played in two rounds of singles and loss to No.72 ranked Shadisha Robinson, 6-0, 6-1. Prior to this, Banada won two different rounds of singles, first in three sets against No.50 ranked Roxanne Clarke of Arizona State, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. Her second was a win over No.100 ranked Jenny Keuhn of Michigan, 6-0, 6-3.

Main Draw

Thurs. Oct. 5 – 1st Round Singles/1st Round Doubles

Fri. Oct. 6 – 2nd and QF Singles/QF Doubles

Sat. Oct. 7 – SF Singles and Doubles

Sun, Oct. 8 – Championship Matches