Upcoming Event: Women's Tennis at Kitty Harrison Invitational on September 12, 2025
Women's Tennis
at Kitty Harrison Invitational
Saturday, February 27
Durham, N.C.
2:00 P.M.
Duke University
7
vs
0
Louisville
Photo by: Duke Athletics
No. 11 Blue Devils Defeat Louisville, 7-0, in Home ACC Opener
2/27/2021 5:36:00 PM | Women's Tennis
DURHAM, N.C. – The 11th-ranked Duke women's team returned to Durham, N.C., Saturday for its home ACC opener and collected a 7-0 victory over Louisville at Ambler Tennis Stadium.
With the victory, Duke improved to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in ACC action, while Louisville dropped to 5-4, 2-2. The Blue Devils collected its 51st straight home victory, which is the longest streak in Power Five Conference action.
"I thought we competed well," said Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth. "Being our first outdoor match and really outdoor tennis is a little bit different than indoor tennis. It was really important for us to get outside and know that we can kind of grind through an outdoor match. I am pleased overall."
For the 12th straight dual match, the Blue Devils took the crucial doubles point to take the early 1-0 advantage.
"We did a good job with doubles," said Ashworth. "Louisville has had a lot of success with its doubles so far this year. I think yesterday was the first time they have lost a doubles point so we kind of jumped on them pretty quickly with our doubles."
The Duke duo of Kelly Chen and Georgia Drummy went down 0-1 early on court three, but responded by the next three games to take a 4-1 lead against Chelsea Sawyer and Dina Chaika. After dropping the next game, Chen and Drummy closed their match by winning the next three games to win, 6-2. The Blue Devil tandem won their eighth straight contest to move to 9-2 on the year.
On court one, Meible Chi and Margaryta Bilokin fell down, 1-2, early, but won five straight games to take a 6-2 victory over Rhea Verma and Andrea Di Palma. The win for Chi and Bilokin improved their 2021 ledger to 6-2 and clinched the doubles point for Duke.
The Blue Devil duo of Chloe Beck and Karolina Berankova entered their contest with a seven-match win streak and were facing Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova, who were a perfect 8-0 on the season. Duke took control early leading 4-0 and never looked back. Beck and Berankova went on to total a 6-1 victory to close doubles action and increase their record to 9-1.
"I definitely think it is great when we can all pull through in our doubles matches and definitely take that momentum into singles is nice," said Beck.
It marked only the second time in dual match play in 2021 that the Cardinals lost the doubles point.
In just over a hour into singles action, Duke went ahead 3-0 with victories on courts No. 2 and No. 3. Beck, who is ranked 29th from Watkinsville, Ga., never trailed in the first set winning 6-1 and then dropped the first two games of the second set, before defeating Neely, 6-3. Beck moved to 5-0 in dual match play at the No. 3 slot and 8-2 on the season.
"It was really fun," commented Beck on playing outside at Ambler Tennis Stadium. "This is actually my first time outside [playing at Ambler] even though I had my freshman season last year, we didn't have a chance to play a single outdoor match [due to COVID-19]. So it was really good to get the win today."
Eighth-ranked Chen put the Blue Devils ahead 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Nikolina Jovic on the second court. A product of Cerritos, Calif., Chen never trailed in the match to improve to 6-3 on the year.
Bilokin, who hails from New Canaan, Conn., cliched the match for Duke with a 6-0, 6-4 straight set victory over Sawyer on court No. 4. With the win, Bilokin collected her sixth straight victory to improve to 10-2 and registered her 50th career singles tally.
On court six, 95th-ranked Berankova got off to a great start winning the first set, 6-2, against Jelena Vujanic. Berankova led 2-0 in the second set, but Vujanic rallied to win five consecutive games and led 5-2. A native of Prague, Czech Republic, Berankova stormed back to win five straight games herself and won the second set, 7-5. She improved to 7-3 on her rookie season and won her fourth match in a row.
After dropping the first set on court No. 1 to Di Palma, 3-6, 28th-ranked Drummy responded by winning the first four games of the second set to take a 4-0 lead. She would go on to win the second set, 6-2, and kept the momentum going in the tiebreaker winning, 10-3.
The final score came down to court five with Duke's 111th-ranked Chi against Verma. Chi, who is from Weston, Fla., trailed in the early part of the match, but kept fighting. In the first set, she was tied 5-5 and was ahead, 40-0, but ended up dropping set, 5-7. Chi fell behind, 1-2, in the second, but would go on to win, 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chi was dominant with a 10-3 ledger.
With the win, Chi collected win No. 122 over her five-year career to move into a share of seventh on Duke's all-time win charts along with Katrina Greenman (122-42).
Duke will remain at home this week as the Blue Devils host No. 5 Florida State Saturday, March 6 and Miami Sunday, March 7 at Ambler Tennis Stadium. Both matches will start at 12 p.m.
"Before these matches coming up, I thought that it was important that we did everything we could to get this match in," added Ashworth. "Our game ops people did a great job of allowing that to happen and making it happen working all day. I am thankful to them that we were allowed to get this opportunity before next week."
For more information on Duke women's tennis, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWTEN".
#GoDuke
#11 Duke 7, Louisville 0
Doubles
1. Meible Chi/Margaryta Bilokin (Duke) def. Rhea Verma/Andrea Di Palma (UL) 6-2
2. Chloe Beck/Karolina Berankova (Duke) def. Raven Neely/Tatiana Simova (UL) 6-1
3. Kelly Chen/Georgia Drummy (Duke) def. Chelsea Sawyer/Dina Chaika (UL) 6-2
Singles
1. #28 Georgia Drummy (Duke) def. Andrea Di Palma (UL) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-3)
2. #8 Kelly Chen (Duke) def. Nikolina Jovic (UL) 6-3, 6-1
3. #29 Chloe Beck (Duke) def. Raven Neely (UL) 6-1, 6-3
4. #44 Margaryta Bilokin (Duke) def. Chelsea Sawyer (UL) 6-0, 6-4
5. #111 Meible Chi (Duke) def. Rhea Verma (UL) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-3)
6. #95 Karolina Berankova (Duke) def. Jelena Vujanic (UL) 6-2, 7-5
Finish:
Doubles – 3, 1, 2
Singles – 3, 2, 4, 6, 1, 5
With the victory, Duke improved to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in ACC action, while Louisville dropped to 5-4, 2-2. The Blue Devils collected its 51st straight home victory, which is the longest streak in Power Five Conference action.
"I thought we competed well," said Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth. "Being our first outdoor match and really outdoor tennis is a little bit different than indoor tennis. It was really important for us to get outside and know that we can kind of grind through an outdoor match. I am pleased overall."
For the 12th straight dual match, the Blue Devils took the crucial doubles point to take the early 1-0 advantage.
"We did a good job with doubles," said Ashworth. "Louisville has had a lot of success with its doubles so far this year. I think yesterday was the first time they have lost a doubles point so we kind of jumped on them pretty quickly with our doubles."
The Duke duo of Kelly Chen and Georgia Drummy went down 0-1 early on court three, but responded by the next three games to take a 4-1 lead against Chelsea Sawyer and Dina Chaika. After dropping the next game, Chen and Drummy closed their match by winning the next three games to win, 6-2. The Blue Devil tandem won their eighth straight contest to move to 9-2 on the year.
On court one, Meible Chi and Margaryta Bilokin fell down, 1-2, early, but won five straight games to take a 6-2 victory over Rhea Verma and Andrea Di Palma. The win for Chi and Bilokin improved their 2021 ledger to 6-2 and clinched the doubles point for Duke.
The Blue Devil duo of Chloe Beck and Karolina Berankova entered their contest with a seven-match win streak and were facing Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova, who were a perfect 8-0 on the season. Duke took control early leading 4-0 and never looked back. Beck and Berankova went on to total a 6-1 victory to close doubles action and increase their record to 9-1.
"I definitely think it is great when we can all pull through in our doubles matches and definitely take that momentum into singles is nice," said Beck.
It marked only the second time in dual match play in 2021 that the Cardinals lost the doubles point.
In just over a hour into singles action, Duke went ahead 3-0 with victories on courts No. 2 and No. 3. Beck, who is ranked 29th from Watkinsville, Ga., never trailed in the first set winning 6-1 and then dropped the first two games of the second set, before defeating Neely, 6-3. Beck moved to 5-0 in dual match play at the No. 3 slot and 8-2 on the season.
"It was really fun," commented Beck on playing outside at Ambler Tennis Stadium. "This is actually my first time outside [playing at Ambler] even though I had my freshman season last year, we didn't have a chance to play a single outdoor match [due to COVID-19]. So it was really good to get the win today."
Eighth-ranked Chen put the Blue Devils ahead 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Nikolina Jovic on the second court. A product of Cerritos, Calif., Chen never trailed in the match to improve to 6-3 on the year.
Bilokin, who hails from New Canaan, Conn., cliched the match for Duke with a 6-0, 6-4 straight set victory over Sawyer on court No. 4. With the win, Bilokin collected her sixth straight victory to improve to 10-2 and registered her 50th career singles tally.
On court six, 95th-ranked Berankova got off to a great start winning the first set, 6-2, against Jelena Vujanic. Berankova led 2-0 in the second set, but Vujanic rallied to win five consecutive games and led 5-2. A native of Prague, Czech Republic, Berankova stormed back to win five straight games herself and won the second set, 7-5. She improved to 7-3 on her rookie season and won her fourth match in a row.
After dropping the first set on court No. 1 to Di Palma, 3-6, 28th-ranked Drummy responded by winning the first four games of the second set to take a 4-0 lead. She would go on to win the second set, 6-2, and kept the momentum going in the tiebreaker winning, 10-3.
The final score came down to court five with Duke's 111th-ranked Chi against Verma. Chi, who is from Weston, Fla., trailed in the early part of the match, but kept fighting. In the first set, she was tied 5-5 and was ahead, 40-0, but ended up dropping set, 5-7. Chi fell behind, 1-2, in the second, but would go on to win, 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chi was dominant with a 10-3 ledger.
With the win, Chi collected win No. 122 over her five-year career to move into a share of seventh on Duke's all-time win charts along with Katrina Greenman (122-42).
Duke will remain at home this week as the Blue Devils host No. 5 Florida State Saturday, March 6 and Miami Sunday, March 7 at Ambler Tennis Stadium. Both matches will start at 12 p.m.
"Before these matches coming up, I thought that it was important that we did everything we could to get this match in," added Ashworth. "Our game ops people did a great job of allowing that to happen and making it happen working all day. I am thankful to them that we were allowed to get this opportunity before next week."
For more information on Duke women's tennis, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeWTEN".
#GoDuke
#11 Duke 7, Louisville 0
Doubles
1. Meible Chi/Margaryta Bilokin (Duke) def. Rhea Verma/Andrea Di Palma (UL) 6-2
2. Chloe Beck/Karolina Berankova (Duke) def. Raven Neely/Tatiana Simova (UL) 6-1
3. Kelly Chen/Georgia Drummy (Duke) def. Chelsea Sawyer/Dina Chaika (UL) 6-2
Singles
1. #28 Georgia Drummy (Duke) def. Andrea Di Palma (UL) 3-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-3)
2. #8 Kelly Chen (Duke) def. Nikolina Jovic (UL) 6-3, 6-1
3. #29 Chloe Beck (Duke) def. Raven Neely (UL) 6-1, 6-3
4. #44 Margaryta Bilokin (Duke) def. Chelsea Sawyer (UL) 6-0, 6-4
5. #111 Meible Chi (Duke) def. Rhea Verma (UL) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-3)
6. #95 Karolina Berankova (Duke) def. Jelena Vujanic (UL) 6-2, 7-5
Finish:
Doubles – 3, 1, 2
Singles – 3, 2, 4, 6, 1, 5
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
3,1,2
#1 Singles Match
123
Andrea DiPalma / 0 [LOU]
620
361
#2 Singles Match
12
Nikolina Jovic / 0 [LOU]
31
66
#3 Singles Match
12
Raven Neely / 0 [LOU]
13
66
#4 Singles Match
12
Chelsea Sawyer / 0 [LOU]
04
66
#5 Singles Match
123
Rhea Verma / 0 [LOU]
730
561
#6 Singles Match
12
Jelena Vujanic / 0 [LOU]
25
67
Order of Finish:
3,2,4,6,1,5
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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