Yakoff and Karra Start Strong in the Main Draw of the ITA All-Americans

This past week, five Harvard women’s tennis players began competing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Women’s All-American Championships in Cary, N.C. During the tournament, the Crimson has faced some of the best college tennis players in the country. Harvard’s run is far from over, with more action to come as seniors Stephanie Yakoff and Kavya Karra return to the court tomorrow.

Yakoff beat her opponent in straight sets on Wednesday, the first day of the main draw. In an easy 6-2, 6-2 win, the Fort Lee, N.J., native, ranked No. 55 in the country, crushed Texas Christian University’s No. 47 Raquel Caballero Chica.

Though the players held serve at the onset of the match, an early break led Yakoff to victory. The two foes kept the ball deep on the court, but Yakoff’s steady consistency and careful use of power won out in the two-hour match. Notably, all matches were moved indoors because of heavy rain in the area.

Tomorrow, at 12 p.m. EDT, Yakoff is slated to play against Arizona State University’s senior Emilija Tverijonaite, the ninth seed in the tournament. Tverijonaite beat her opponent today 6-1, 6-2, and will be a tough competitor for Yakoff.

This past weekend, four Harvard athletes — Karra, senior Natalie Block, and freshmen Anna Tabunshchyk and Amina Zeghlouli — competed in the singles pre-qualifying draw. All four lost their first matches, but Karra and Tabunshchyk rebounded by winning their consolation draw matches.

In doubles, Block and junior Natasha Rajaram battled hard against ninth-seeded Addison Yang Comiskey and Elena Mireles of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in the pre-qualifiers on Sept. 19. The duo was able to keep the opening set competitive before ultimately dropping to SMU, 6-3, 6-2.

After falling in their initial pre-qualifying match, Block and Rajaram moved to the pre-qualifying consolation draw. The Crimson pair fought hard against a team from Vanderbilt, but once again fell short, 6-4, 6-4.

Meanwhile, in the main draw for doubles, No. 43 Yakoff and Kara represented Harvard, taking on North Carolina State’s No. 16 Lavinia Tanasie and Mia Slama in the Round of 32. The opening set started off close, but the Crimson pulled ahead late and secured the 7-5 win.

Harvard then used its early momentum to take a 3-1 lead in the following set, but the Wolfpack fought back and broke the Crimson twice. NC State claimed the second set, 6-4, and forced a tiebreaker.

The Harvard duo pushed through an incredibly tight, back-and-forth tiebreaker, ultimately gaining the 12-10 edge to secure the win.

“I’m really proud of Stephanie and Kavya, not only for grinding out the match today, but for all the hard work they’ve put in over the last four years,” head coach Traci Green wrote after the match.

With the victory, Yakoff and Karra advance to the round of 16, where they will take on the sixth-seeded University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill duo, senior Maddy Zampardo and junior Susanna Maltby.

The Crimson pair will look to build on this win and fight to keep its run in the competition alive at 4:30 p.m. EDT tomorrow.

“They’re still in the tournament, they continue to keep building, and we believe the best is yet to come,” Green wrote.

—Staff writer Natalia Howard Pagán can be reached at [email protected].

—Staff writer Avani I. Shah-Lipman can be reached at [email protected].