Resende continues ITA success to claim spot in 2021 ITA Cup semifinals
ROME, Ga. – Senior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) was back in action on Friday as she would take part in the 2021 ITA Cup women’s singles quarterfinals
ROME, Ga. – Senior Ana Carla Resende (Minas Gerais, Brazil) was back in action on Friday as she would take part in the 2021 ITA Cup women's singles quarterfinals from the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Georgia.
Thursday saw Ana Carla start her time in Rome, Georgia with a first-round victory over Taylor Leslie of Dallas Baptist by a result of 7-5, 6-1. The first set against Leslie was a back-and-forth affair as Resende would end up coming back and winning 7-5. In the second set on Thursday, Resende had calmed all her nerves and ceased complete control throughout the entire set, as she would be serving to wrap up action and she put away Leslie 6-1 and move onto Friday.
Heading into Friday's quarterfinal match, Carson-Newman tennis graduate assistant Gabriel Dabdab said, "Another tough matchup as she faces the fourth seed, but I have plenty of confidence that she can go out there and take the win."
Friday afternoon saw Ana Carla Resende taking on the fourth-seeded Anna Novikova from the University of Indianapolis. Novikova advanced to Friday's action after sweeping her first round matchup 6-1, 6-2 Thursday morning.
"Another great match from Ana Carla as she was playing the #6 in the country and overall #4 seed. She showed that in order to beat her, the opponent will have to put in a lot of effort," Dabdab said. "After being up 5-2 in the first and playing a couple games with more mistakes than usual, she was able to handle her service game after being down 40-15. After the first game, I was sure she was going to win the match."
Friday would be all about Resende as she took the overall 6-4, 6-1 victory and set herself a place in the ITA Cup women's singles semifinals tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. from the Rome Tennis Center.
She would seemingly dominate the first set as she went up 5-2 and was close to closing out the set. However, Novikova did not go away with a fight and she fought tooth-and-nail to get back into the match. Resende would not allow that to happen as she closed out the first set after being down 40-15.
The second set saw a good start by Ana Carla which gave her great confidence and made her opponent start making silly mistakes and get nervous. The set became faster, playing in Resende's forte, and allowed the Brazil native to pull away and take the second set, 6-1, and move onto Saturday's semifinals action.
"Tomorrow, the battle continues as she faces the #1 seed and the #1 overall in the country from Barry," Dabdab said. "At this level, you cannot afford to pick opponents and hope to get lucky in the draw. We all have plenty of confidence that she'll play a great match tomorrow and that nothing is impossible anymore."
Resende will take to the courts on Saturday morning against the number one player in Division II women's tennis and the ITA Cup number one overall seed, Barry's Deniz Khazan.
Semifinals action will take place from the Rome Tennis Center and should be available for live stream at this link. Fans will need to create a free account to view the live stream as the ITA will broadcast all semifinals and finals matches this weekend.
Be sure to follow all things Carson-Newman women's tennis during the 2021-22 season via cneagles.com and all of Carson-Newman's social media platforms.
