The University of Florida’s Marrit Boonstra (Groningen, Netherlands) continued her run at the NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championships and marched into the quarterfinal round after her impressive win Friday afternoon at the Mitchell Tennis Center.

 

The eighth-ranked Boonstra battled through a tough first set against Stanford’s seventh-seeded Hilary Barte and emerged with a convincing 7-5, 6-1 victory to become the first Gator to reach the quarterfinals since 2005, when Jennifer Magley reached the semifinal round.

 

In Friday’s match, both competitors had trouble holding serve in the first set, which featured seven breaks, including in five of the last six games. Most of the games midway through the first were quick, until the 10th game, where Boonstra capitalized on her second break-point to draw even at 5-all. The Gator junior then lost the first two points of the game, before ripping off the next three, but couldn’t put Barte away on her first game-point.

 

The Cardinal lefty forced duce and had a pair of set-points, however, Boonstra fought back and was able to hold for a 6-5 lead. That game seemed to take a lot out of Barte, who never quite seemed the same again for the rest of the match, as the Gator junior won eight of the next 10 points, closing out the first set en route to holding to start the second. After she broke Barte’s first serve chance in the second set, Boonstra ripped off 16 of the next 17 points and held a 5-0 lead in the second. Barte held to prevent the bagel, but Boonstra’s serve found its mark and carried her to victory on her third-match point try.

 

“I played a really good second set. The first set was not very good. She played very good,” Boonstra shared. “I had to figure out her game, and after that it went pretty easy. She is a great player, but she is half of the size of me, so I was trying to get the balls up higher than her, and it worked. Then I tried to go to the net.”

 

“Marrit played great,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “The first set was hard-fought and she played very smart; she stuck to the game plan throughout the match. [Barte] is a very talented player who can do a lot with the ball, but Marrit worked hard and kept moving her feet.

 

“Her first-round match (a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) win) was a battle, but she worked her way through that and since that third set she has played better and has been more calm,” Thornqvist said. “At this stage of the tournament, the margin for error gets smaller and smaller the deeper you move into the draw and she knows that. She’s played better every round which is a good sign.”

 

Boonstra’s quarterfinal opponent will be Miami’s Laura Vallverdu, who rallied from a 5-1 second-set hole to take the 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory over LSU’s Megan Falcon.

 

Later Friday evening, Boonstra returned to the court where she and Gator freshman Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) dropped their NCAA Doubles Championships round of 16 match to Arizona State’s Micaela Hein and Kelcy McKenna, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

 

NCAA Division I Tennis Women’s Singles Championships

George P. Mitchell Tennis Center

College Station, Texas

 

May 22, 2009

 

Complete Singles Agate

 

Singles Round of 16 Results

(1) Maria Mosolova (Northwestern) d. Reka Zsilinszka (Duke), 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

(8) Chelsey Gullickson (Georgia) d. (9-16) Jana Juricova (California), 6-3, 7-6

Laura Vallverdu (Miami) d. (9-16) Megan Falcon (LSU) 3-6, 7-5, 6-0

(9-16) Marrit Boonstra (Florida) d. (7) Hilary Barte (Stanford), 7-5, 6-1

(5) Mallory Cecil (Duke) d. Bianca Eichkorn (Miami), 6-2, 7-5

(3) Aurelija Miseviciute (Arkansas) d. (9-16) Josipa Bek (Clemson), 6-3, 6-4

Sanaz Marand (North Carolina) d. Laura Gioia (Furman), 6-1, 6-1

(2) Julia Cohen (Miami) d. Ellah Nze (Duke), 6-4, 6-4

 

 

Doubles Round of 16 Results

(1) Renata Kucerkova/Anastasia Petukhova (Fresno State) def. Nadine Fahoum/Charleen Haarhoff (Old Dominion), 6-3, 3-6, 6-2

Csilla Borsanyi/Lenka Broosova (Baylor) def. Kristi Boxx/Karen Nijssen (Mississippi), 7-6 (6), 6-2

Lauren Lui/Georgia Rose (Northwestern) def. Carolina Escamilla/Caroline Lilley (Kentucky), 6-3, 6-1

Natalie Pluskota/Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee) def. (2) Kristy Frilling/Kelcy Tefft (Notre Dame), 7-6 (4), 6-3

(5-8) Mari Andersson/Jana Juricova (California) def. Michaela Kissell/Laura Vallverdu (Miami), 7-5, 6-4

Josipa Bek/Ina Hadziselimovic (Clemson) def. Macall Harkins/Anna Sydorska (TCU), 7-6 (5), 6-4

Micaela Hein/Kelcy McKenna (Arizona State) def. Marrit Boonstra/Joanna Mather (Florida), 6-4, 1-6, 6-3

(5-8) Hilary Barte/Lindsay Burdette (Stanford) def. Marta Lesniak/Aleksandra Malyarschikova (SMU), 6-2, 6-0

 

-UF-