FAU women’s tennis kicked off the first rounds of 32 singles of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) 15K Fall Tournament with a victory 6-0, 6-2 in Hilton Head, SC and closed the day with another win in doubles 6-4, 6-1.

Representing the Owls on Court 14, Hungarian freshman Panna Bartha defeated Ecuadorian freshman Tania Isabel Andrade Sabando of Virginia Commonwealth University in a brisk battle on clay.

Just nine minutes into the match, Bartha swiftly secured a break-point, propelling herself to a two-game lead. She continued to dominate, going up three games after a strong serving performance. 

Sabando, on the other hand, struggled with her first serve, resulting in four double faults in just 21 minutes. This aided Bartha in gaining another break-point, widening her lead to four games to none. With Bartha serving at 40-love, she wasted no time and clinched the first set at 6-0, in just 30 minutes.

Sabando came into the second set more determined, forcing two break-points and finally getting on the board at one game to none. However, Bartha quickly responded by regaining the break-point. Bartha secured another break-point, taking a 3-1 lead. Despite Sabando’s brief resurgence, winning another break-point and closing the gap to two games to five, Bartha pulled away to secure the match with her first victory in the 2023 Fall ITF 15K Tournament.

Bartha’s next challenge awaits her in the singles rounds of 16, where she will face Oklahoma University’s senior Argentinian Maria Florencia Urrutia, who also entered the competition in the main draw. Urrutia claimed her first singles victory with a score of 6-2, 6-2 against American Mary Boyce Deatherage.

Though Urrutia had a better winning percentage at 73% on clay with a total of 11 wins and 4 losses, Bartha had seen more competitions with 15 wins and 9 losses for 62% overall.

Later in the day, on Court 8, Bartha paired up with former Louisville player Canadian Rhea Verma in the doubles competition. Their opponents were the Brazilian Carolina Bohrer Martins and Dominican Kelly Williford.

Bartha and Verma initially found themselves trailing two games to none in the first set but swiftly mounted a comeback, leveling the score at 3-2 after their service. They maintained their momentum, and ultimately won the first set 6-4.

In the second set, the pair demonstrated a strong connection, taking a commanding lead three games to none. Although Martins and Williford managed to win one game back, Bartha and Verma proved to be too strong, securing a 5-1 lead and concluding the match with a final score of 6-4, 6-1.

Bartha and Verma will continue their partnership in the final eight-doubles to face their next opponents, the American Mia Yamakita and Chieh-Yu Hsu from Taipei.  

Gasner Delvarin Jr. is a staff writer for the University Press. For more information regarding this or other stories, email gdelvarinjr2017@fau.edu.