Aristegui Reaches Semifinals in Fall Debut

Friday, October 23

Fayetteville, Ark.

TCU

ITA

Aristegui Reaches Semifinals in Fall Debut

10/26/2020 12:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Mercedes Aristegui headlines strong weekend for TCU Women’s Tennis

FORT WORTH -- TCU Women's Tennis collected 10 singles victories, led by a main draw semifinal run from Mercedes Aristegui at the ITA Central Regional Championship in Fayetteville, Ark.

"It was a great Regionals for the team," Head Coach Lee Taylor Walker said. "We built a lot of belief in every player, day by day, and I'm so proud of the improvement we had. Having Mercedes back and playing in her first tournament of the fall was special for our team. We really missed her the last 7 months. Her enthusiasm on court is just so uplifting and contagious. She had to gut out a really stressful first round, but after that she settled into being the passionate fighting player that she always is. For her to make the semis, having just got back into the country 3 weeks ago is amazing performance by her."

Aristegui showed tremendous fight in her run to the semifinals, besting two opponents from Arkansas and notching a R32 victory over Vasupongchai from Central Arkansas as the No. 6 seed in the main draw. Aristegui showed her mettle in the first two rounds, winning a pair of three-set matches before displaying her ability to dictate a match in the quarterfinals, where she defeated Matina Zerulo from Arkansas, 6-3, 6-0.

Four Horned Frogs made the journey with all four earning at least two wins across the three-day tournament. The team leader was freshman Isa Pascual Montalvo, with four victories, a 1-1 record in doubles with Margaret Polk and a semifinal run in the consolation bracket.

Pascual Montalvo has turned heads in her first fall season as a Horned Frog. She leads the team with nine victories in all competition this fall, including her consolation semifinals run this weekend and a doubles title in the OU Invitational, with Polk, earlier this season.

"Isa played some really high-level tennis as she's beginning to understand how to be intentional with every point and give maximum effort," Walker said.

Polk reached the consolation semifinals as well, including a gutsy, 7-6(4), 6-4 victory over Lucie Devier of North Texas in the consolation quarterfinals. She has been a consistently sturdy member of the team this fall, fighting for every ball on her way to seven combined wins so far this fall.

"Margaret really showed off her fitness out-fighting two opponents Saturday," Walker said. "She worked so hard this past summer to get healthy and in amazing shape, and it has provided her opportunities to compete pain free all tourneys so far."

Stevie Kennedy reached the second round of the main draw before falling to eventual semifinalist, Ayumi Miyamoto. Kennedy finished her weekend with a very strong performance against Chunxi Xin of Central Arkansas to finish the weekend with a pair of singles victories to bring her fall total to three.

"Stevie had a bonus match against a really accomplished player and brought the passion on Day 3 to finish her tourney well," Walker said. "Stevie is always looking for ways to improve and so much fun to coach."

For more information on TCU women's tennis, visit gofrogs.com and follow the team on social media: @TCUWomensTennis on twitter and Facebook, @tcuwomenstennis on Instagram.