ORLANDO – Members of the No. 23 UCF women's tennis team wrapped up their time at the ITF W25 Orlando this week. Noel Saidenova, Jantje Tilbuerger, and signee Olivia Lincer participated in the qualifying draw of the tournament, with Lincer advancing to the main draw.
Saidenova faced off against former Georgia Bulldog Kennedy Shaffer in round one of the qualifying draw. Saidenova dropped the first set 6-3 but fought back in the second to come out on top, 6-1. The tiebreaker set went back and forth, but Saidenova was defeated 10-12 to bring her tournament to a close.
Tilbuerger went head-to-head with No. 10 seed Eleana Yu in her round one match, earning a well-fought win against Yu. Tilbuerger handily won the first set 6-1, and then dropped the second set 1-6 to send the match to a super tiebreaker as well. This tiebreaker went the Knights' way, with Tilbuerger emerging victorious 10-7 to send her one step closer to the main draw. Her second matchup featured Sara Daavettila, a seven-time ITA All-America selection at UNC, who had just defeated the qualifying draw No. 1 seed in her first-round duel. Tilbuerger was defeated here, by a score of 1-6, 4-6.
Signee Lincer made her way into the main draw of the tournament, after taking down both of her opponents in the qualifying round. In the first round, she dueled against Chieh-Yu Hsu, a six-time singles and 25-time doubles champion on the ITF Women's Circuit. Lincer dropped the first set 4-6 but came back quickly to take both the second set and the super tiebreaker 6-2, 10-2. She then took on Rasheeda McAdoo, the number nine seed in the qualifying. After losing the first set 5-7, she fought back to advance to the main draw by a score of 5-7, 6-4, 12-10. In the main draw, Lincer was topped by Danielle Lao by a score of 6-3, 6-3.
UP NEXT
The Knights head to Auburn this weekend for the ITA Kickoff Weekend. They will play No. 19 Arizona State on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. On Sunday, Jan. 29, the squad will face off against either No. 15 Auburn or UCSB. The time of this match is TBA.
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