Women’s Tennis Wins Thriller to Advance to NCAA Quarterfinals

Friday, May 9

Durham, N.C.

5 p.m.

Duke University

Auburn

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Women’s Tennis Wins Thriller to Advance to NCAA Quarterfinals

5/9/2025 10:51:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Photo Gallery Yu Interview Ashworth Interview

DURHAM, N.C. – In a thrilling four-hour match, the eighth-ranked Duke women's tennis team defeated ninth-ranked Auburn, 4-2, to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship on Friday inside Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham.

The Blue Devils won the doubles point and then went ahead, 3-0, early with singles victories by Shavit Kimchi and Ellie Coleman. Auburn grabbed two points back, before it came down to Liv Hovde and Eleana Yu for the deciding points. Yu, who hails from Mason, Ohio, clinched the victory to send Duke to the quarterfinals for the 23rd time in program history.

Duke improved to 24-3 overall, while Auburn dropped to 26-6.

Clinched a BATTLE tonight ?? pic.twitter.com/21R3cr59P6
— Duke Women's Tennis (@DukeWTEN) May 10, 2025

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke and Auburn battled in a very tight doubles point that took 54 minutes to finalize.
On court three, Duke's Liv Hovde and Emma Jackson went up against Ava Esposito and Maria Garcia.The Blue Devils opened with the serve and won to go ahead, 1-0.The two teams held serve for the next five games and featured a 3-3 ledger.Hovde and Jackson won a huge deuce point to hold serve and go ahead, 4-3.With the match tied, 4-4, Duke held serve to take a 5-4 lead and then had the first break of the match to win, 6-4.
Auburn came back on court one as 13th-ranked DJ Bennett and Ava Hrastar totaled a 6-2 victory over the 20th-ranked Blue Devil tandem of Irina Balus and Ellie Coleman.
The doubles point came down to court two with Duke's Shavit Kimchi and Eleana Yu versus the Tigers' 46th-ranked Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat.Duke held serve and opened with a 1-0 lead.With the match tied, 2-2, Auburn had the first break of the contest to take a 3-2 lead.The Blue Devils returned the favor and broke the Tigers to even the score, 3-3.The teams held serve for the next five games to give Duke a 6-5 advantage.Auburn double-faulted to give the Blue Devils a 30-0 lead and then Duke led 40-0.The Tigers got two points back to cut the lead to 40-30, but the Blue Devils hung on to clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 victory.
In singles, Duke came out and won the first set on four of the six courts.
The Blue Devils went ahead, 2-0, with an impressive win on court five as Duke's 95th-ranked Kimchi totaled a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Esposito.Kimchi, who is from Sdey Hemed, Israel, jumped out to a 2-1 lead, but Esposito broke and then went ahead, 3-2.After Esposito evened the ledger, 3-3, Kimchi went on to win nine games in a row to take the match.
Duke then went ahead, 3-0, as 98th-ranked Coleman collected a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Alice Battesti on court six.After dropping the first game and then trailing, 3-2, Coleman won a key deuce point to even the score, 3-3.Coleman, a product of Midland, Mich., then went on to win nine straight games to take the match.
Auburn got on the board, 3-1, on court three as 57th-ranked Hrastar posted a 6-3, 6-2 win versus 25th-ranked Jackson.
Needing one more point on the scoreboard, the Blue Devil had a pair of freshmen – Balus and Hovde – along with a sophomore, Yu, remaining.
After falling down early, 4-1, Duke's 26th-ranked Balus came back to even the score, 4-4, before dropping the first set, 6-4, to 53rd-ranked Okutoyi.Balus earned a 6-4 win in the second set as she never trailed.In the third set, Balus opened with a 2-0 lead and led 3-2, before Okutoyi came back to even the score, 3-3.With the match even, 5-5, Okutoyi registered wins in back-to-back games to take the victory, 7-5, to cut into the Duke lead, 3-2.
On court four, Duke's 72nd-ranked Yu won the first set, 6-4, against 64th-ranked Refaat.Refaat came back and evened the match by winning the second set, 7-5.In the third set, the two student-athletes had to switch to court three due to a light going out on court four.Yu led 3-1, but Refaat came back to take a 4-3 lead and led 5-4.Yu fought off a match point for Refaat to even the score, 5-5, on a crucial deuce.Yu then broke Refaat to take a 6-5 lead and then clinched the match winning 7-5.
Duke featured match-clinching points on both court one and four at the same time when Yu clinched the Blue Devil victory.
When the match was clinched, 61st-ranked Hovde was leading fourth-ranked Bennett, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-6 (6-5).Hovde, who is from Daniel Island, S.C., played a tremendous contest holding five match points and serving for the match four different times against the 2025 NCAA runner-up.

NOTES

Duke improved to 37-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament action in Durham over the history of the program.
Head coach Jamie Ashworth won his 72nd match in NCAA Tournament action, while Duke now owns 84 all-time victories.
Duke now owns 23 appearances in the NCAA Quarterfinals and the first since 2022.
Shavit Kimchi and Eleana Yu improved to 4-1 on the season playing together in doubles and 2-0 in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The duo totaled their first ranked win of their career together.
Duke's doubles duo of Emma Jackson and Liv Hovde won their 15th-straight match to move to 16-1 on the year.The Blue Devils totaled a 9-0 record at home this season.
Ellie Coleman improved to 25-6 overall on the year and 83-38 in her singles career. She has now won 15-straight singles matches. Coleman is now 11-0 on the season at the No. 6 slot.
Kimchi totaled her 21st singles win of the season to improve to 21-10 overall and 12-1 at the No. 5 singles slot.
Yu clinched a match against a top-10 opponent for the second time this season and the fifth overall time this year.She improved to 19-8 on the year and totaled her fourth ranked win of the season.
In NCAA Tournament singles action, Coleman improved to 5-2, Kimchi is now 3-1 and Yu is 2-0.

QUOTES

"Those were two great teams.Auburn played a great match and had a great season. We knew coming in that it was going to be a fight. Took four hours – it was probably the longest match we played this year." - Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"I am really proud of them. Proud of just staying true to what they've talked about all year. I mean such a crazy match - Liv had a couple match points and then we were down two match points on both courts at the same time.Eleana down a match point, Liv down on match point.If we lose those two, the match is over and those two are going on at the same time. Just a crazy match, but proud that we stayed true to what we're doing and proud they kept believing and didn't get discouraged in those moments of adversity that definitely popped up." - Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"Oh, my God - I needed so much energy and adrenaline to try to get me through the end of that match. And I think all the support from the fans, from my teammates, just knowing that all that energy and all the vocalness that was around definitely helped push me through the match. I was barely getting through the match. I ended up puking and crying after I hit the last literal match point.A wave of emotions flooded me and I know that I wouldn't have gotten through it without my teammates or the crowd." - Duke sophomore Eleana Yu on the great crowd support tonight

NEXT MATCH

Duke advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship where the eighth-seeded Blue Devils will face top-seeded Georgia on May 15 in Waco, Texas.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWTEN".

#GoDuke

#8 Duke 4, #9 Auburn 2
May 9, 2025
Ambler Tennis Stadium * Durham, N.C.

Doubles
1. #13 DJ Bennett/Ava Hrastar (AUB) def. #20 Irina Balus/Ellie Coleman (DUKE) 6-2
2. Shavit Kimchi/Eleana Yu (DUKE) def. #46 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) 7-5
3. Liv Hovde/Emma Jackson (DUKE) def. Ava Esposito/Maria Garcia (AUB) 6-4

Singles
1. #61 Liv Hovde (DUKE) vs. #4 DJ Bennett (AUB) 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-6 (6-5) unfinished
2. #53 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) def. #26 Irina Balus (DUKE) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
3. #57 Ava Hrastar (AUB) def. #25 Emma Jackson (DUKE) 6-3, 6-2
4. #72 Eleana Yu (DUKE) def. #64 Merna Refaat (AUB) 6-4, 5-7, 7-5
5. #95 Shavit Kimchi (DUKE) def. Ava Esposito (AUB) 6-3, 6-0
6. #98 Ellie Coleman (DUKE) def. Alice Battesti (AUB) 6-3, 6-0
Order of Finish: Doubles (3,1,2*), Singles (5,6,3,2,4*)