Lohan Earns 15K Singles Title in Portugal
CANTANHEDE, PORTUGAL – For the second year in a row, Sinead Lohan of the University of Miami women’s tennis team left Clube Escola de Tenis de Cantanhede with a tournament championship.
After winning the $10,000 singles title at Catanhede in 2016, Lohan won the $15,000 tournament Sunday on artificial grass. Despite competing as an unseeded amateur, Lohan topped a trio of ranked players during her five matches.
“I didn’t come into the tournament thinking that I would win it,” Lohan said. “I was just focused on trying to find my game and I played better each match.”
Lohan opened play by cruising past Spain’s Helena Jansen Figueras, 6-2, 6-0. She dropped just two games in her second match, as well, registering a dominant 6-1, 6-1 victory over eighth-seeded Mariana Drazic of Croatia, who is currently ranked No. 764 in the world by the WTA and has peaked at No. 692.
Facing Malta’s Helene Pellicano in the quarterfinals, Lohan picked up her third and final straight-set win of the tournament, 6-4, 6-2.
In the semifinals, Lohan met the tournament’s top seed, Nuria Parrizas-Diaz. The Spaniard has been ranked as high as No. 289 internationally and now sits at No. 562. However, Lohan tallied a hard-fought triumph, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3.
Lohan took on Great Britain’s Alicia Barnett, a 2016 graduate of Northwestern who is ranked No. 932 in the world, with the trophy on the line. The Waterford, Ireland, native came away with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory to claim the title.
“I think that I was just competing for every single point all week and just really focused for every match,” Lohan said. “I played aggressive at important points in my semifinal and final matches, which were both three sets.”
A two-time ITA All-American who has finished all three of her seasons at Miami ranked in the top 25 of the ITA rankings, Lohan is tied for eighth all-time among Hurricanes with 101 singles victories in her career.
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