Sept. 24, 2000

BALTIMORE - Baylor's Jahnavi Parekh and Katja Kovac won their way through the qualifying round to reach the main draw at the ITA National Clay Court Championships in Baltimore Wednesday.

Parekh beat Christiane Barthel of Pacific, 8-1, and then handled Shareen Lai of Syracuse, 8-6. She reached the main draw by beating No. 77 Mira Radu of Mississippi, 8-4.

Kovac, the qualifyer's No. 2 seed, defeated Katia Bogomolova of Miami (Fla.), 8-3, and then posted victories over Pia-Lena Ander of Boise State (8-1) and No. 71-ranked Anne Nguyen from Georgia, 8-4.

Baylor's Karin Anderson fell to Renate Stoop of Boise State, 8-5, in the first round.

In doubles action Kovak and Parekh received a first-round bye and then topped Simone Jardim and Andrea Piski of Auburn, 8-3. They then fell to Charlotte Feasby and Erin Waters or Rice, 8-6.

(Sept. 23 Update)
Baylor's Jahnavi Parekh pulled a major upset by beating the nation's No. 39-ranked player, Carolijn Van Rossum of William and Mary, 6-1, 6-1.

Parekh faces No. 17 Aarthi Venkatesan of Georgia in the second round.

Also in singles, Virginia Commonwealth's Martina Nedelkova, a player ranked in the top 10 nationally last year, beat Katja Kovac of Baylor, 6-4, 6-3.

In doubles Parekh and Kovac beat Ohio State's Kristy Dascoli and Brianna Harris, 1-6, 6-4, 6-4. They will now face LSU's No. 15-ranked team of Bruna Colosio and Ana Paula Mores in the second round.