An impressive run to the championship match of a prestigious tournament ended in disappointment for Duke Monday as junior Reka Zsilinszka lost in the finals of the ITA Carolina Regional individual bracket in Winston-Salem.
Zsilinszka, the tournament’s sixth seed, was given a bye into the second round and did not drop a set in her first two matches to earn a place in the quarterfinals. There, she defeated No. 1 Sanaz Marand of North Carolina in a tense three-setter to earn a berth in the semifinals, which she swept through easily to reach the title match.
In the final—which guaranteed the winner a bid to ITA National Indoors next month—Zsilinszka faced one of the highest-rated players in the area, second seed Josipa Bek from Clemson. In a hotly contested two sets, Bek was able to keep Zsilinszka off balance just enough to get the win, 6-4, 7-6.
“For the first part of the fall [Reka] played defensive tennis eight feet behind the baseline, just hoping people would miss,” head coach Jamie Ashworth said. “This weekend she stepped up and played like [I know she can]. She went after her serves… wasn’t afraid to come to the net, did the little things better that we’ve been harping on with her.”
Duke’s doubles teams also suffered tough defeats, but Ashworth was pleased with the way his squad performed. Both Blue Devil duos—Elizabeth Plotkin played with Zsilinszka, while Amanda Granson and Ellah Nze were paired together—fell in the semifinals by slim margins.
“We’ve been kind of struggling all fall with doubles trying to find some combinations… and this weekend was the first tournament that we had a glimpse of what could be really good doubles play,” Ashworth said.
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