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.