Duke came away from San Francisco with another strong showing at the Battle in the Bay Classic, and Shavit Kimchi put together the run of the weekend.
The Blue Devils senior reached the singles final at the California Tennis Club before falling 6-4, 6-2 to Patricija Paukstyte of Georgia. Kimchi, from Sdey Hemed, Israel, won four matches to get there, starting with a 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 7-5 comeback against Georgia’s Ava Rodriguez in the round of 32.
She followed that with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Marianne Angel of UCSB, then outlasted California’s Laura Cilekova 6-7 (2-7), 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Kimchi held off Nadia Lagaev of Georgia, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), to punch her ticket to the title match.
Duke had plenty of other traction in the singles draw as well. Claire An and Ava Krug each picked up two victories, and the Blue Devils put three players into the quarterfinal round.
An opened with a 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3 win over Pepperdine’s Alexia Harmon before taking down Emma Tutoveanu of UCSB, 6-2, 6-4. Her run ended against Paukstyte in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-2.
Krug also started fast, beating Lera Alexin of Colorado 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 and then topping Naomi Xu of California 6-3, 6-7 (6-8), 6-1. Her stay ended in the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) loss to Lagaev.
Duke also made noise in doubles. The pairing of An and Krug opened with an 8-3 win over Imogen Haddad and Lexi Wolf of Southern California, then knocked off 78th-ranked Nika Hurkacz and Xu of California, 8-5, to reach the semifinals. Their run ended there with an 8-5 loss to UCSB’s Lily Pradkin and Angel.
The Blue Devils’ next stop is the ITA Fall Regionals, set for Oct. 15-20 in Columbia, South Carolina.
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