Just qualifying wasn't enough for Penn tennis star Alice Pirsu at the Omni Hotels National Indoor Championships.
Yesterday, the Quaker sophomore upset fourth-seeded Sara Walker of UCLA, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, in the first round of the tournament.
Walker qualified for the championships by winning the western regional. The sophomore entered the season ranked No. 5 in the preseason polls.
In last year's indoor championship, the Bruins ace won two matches before losing in the quarterfinals to Notre Dame's Michelle Dasso.
With the victory, Pirsu will face Northwestern's Marine Piriou today at 3:30.
Piriou won the Midwest Regional with a victory over teammate Lia Jackson.
In other first-round action for Eastern Regional qualifiers, Harvard freshman Courtney Bergman lost, 6-1, 6-0, to top-seeded Jessica Lehnhoff.
Walker was the only ranked player, of the seven, to be eliminated in the first round.
All second round matches will take place today.
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