Injury and little familiarity with college-level tennis did not stop Maria Anisimova last weekend at the National Tennis Invitational in New York, where she advanced to the finals in singles and doubles, both to be played today.
Anisimova is in Flight C of the singles tournament, while pairing with Charlotte Tansil in the deep flight of the doubles tournament.
"Getting to the finals of both flights for Maria was definitely the highlight of the weekend," Penn coach Mike Dowd said. "Especially since she is a freshman."
Being one of the youngest players on the team did not intimidate the freshman, as she battled and defeated players from several high-profile programs. In the quarterfinals, Anisimova fought diligently and beat the No. 1 seed from Duke.
"Just the fact that I was able to compete at this level really helps my game for the season," Anisimova said. "I just had to fight for every point."
And the freshman's doubles game was in form as well. She had never before played with her partner, Tansil, a transfer from North Carolina.
In the finals, slated for today, Anisimova will see some familiar competition. She and Tansil play against Duke, including the girl that Anisimova had beaten in the singles quarterfinals.
Tansil also played in the semifinals of the singles bracket Flight B this weekend, but was knocked out by another Duke player in the singles bracket.
Other highlights of the tournament included efforts made by Julia Koulbitskaya, Yulia Rivelis and Lauren Sadaka.
Koulbitskaya beat Harvard's Lena Litvak in the quarterfinals. Litvak is the reigning champion of the Cissie Leary Tournament, played two weeks ago.
"This was a good tournament for Julia," Dowd said. "Litvak was the top seed from the Cissie Leary Tournament so it was a great match."
Koulbitskaya, however, was defeated by a player from South Carolina in the semifinals of Flight A.
Rivelis won her first two matchups, but was defeated in the quarterfinals.
Sadaka also won her first two of the weekend. The second match came down to a tie-breaker, but Sadaka triumphed. However, the sophomore had to forfeit her next match due to the tendonitis in her wrist.
"I won my second match in the tie-breaker, which was difficult," Sadaka said. "I could have played [yesterday], but I didn't want to make it worse, so I defaulted."
This recurring injury kept her out almost all of last year's season. She is hoping to rebound for the start of the spring season.
Dowd sees preparations for the spring season going well.
"The team is really improving," he said. "We are playing well and we are going to have some great depth on our team this season."
In the doubles section, Rivelis and Koublitskaya paired up but unexpectedly lost their first-round match. With more determination, the duo was victorious in the next two rounds.
"We had a really good weekend," Dowd said. "We competed well played a lot of fine tennis. I have seen a lot of good, promising things for the spring season."
