Upcoming Event: Women's Tennis versus ITA All-American Championship on September 20, 2025
Women's Tennis
vs ITA All-American Championship
Friday, October 7
Pacific Palisades, Calif.
All Day
Duke University
at
Day Five
Bercek Tops Two To Advance To All-American Semifinals For First Time
10/7/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIF. -- Duke's Daniela Bercek will be one of four players to compete in the semifinals of the Riviera/ITA All-American Tournament Saturday after advancing off two wins in Friday's Round of 16 and quarterfinals. Fifth-ranked Bercek, playing her first year of Duke tennis after transferring from UCLA, competed in last year's Round of 16 but will play her first career All-American semifinal game Saturday on the way to trying to capture Duke's first championship at the event since 2002.
Bercek won her first match of the day over Wisconsin's Caitlin Burke, 6-3, 6-1. The quarterfinal match started out closer, but Bercek pulled out a 7-5, 6-0, victory over Anne Yelsey of Stanford to put her in position to play Yelsey's teammate, 10th-ranked and eighth-seeded Alice Barnes Saturday, when the two will face off at 1 p.m. EDT. Barnes won her first match Friday, 6-3, 6-4, before upsetting No. 4 Robin Stephenson of Alabama, 6-3, 6-1.
Also in the semifinals are TCU's Nicole Leimbach and USC's Amanda Fink. Fink, the only freshman remaining in the tournament as well as the only player to begin in the prequalifying event and advance to the main draw, upset second-seeded Susie Babos of California, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the quarterfinals to move on to Saturday play. All four players are seeing semifinal action at the All-American main draw for the first time.
Bercek also competed with freshman Jessi Robinson in the doubles quarterfinals, but the pair fell, 8-6, to Lucia Sainz and Kathrin Winterhalter from Fresno State.
The prestigious Riviera/ITA All-American Tournament is the first of three national women's tennis tournaments, preceding the November ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships and the spring NCAA Championships.
Players Mentioned
PLAYER
/ Women's Tennis
PLAYER
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Ellie Coleman Post Match vs. FAU
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Jamie Ashworth Post Match vs. FAU
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