Ahmani Guichard poses with her finalist trophy at ITA Southwest RegionalsAhmani Guichard poses with her finalist trophy at ITA Southwest Regionals

Ahmani Guichard

Guichard Punches Ticket to NCAA Singles Tournament

Women's Tennis

Senior advanced to final round at ITA Southwest Regional Championships in San Diego.

Results (PDF)

SAN DIEGO – Ahmani Guichard led a strong showing by UCLA women’s tennis at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships, which spanned six days. Guichard punched her ticket to the NCAA singles tournament at San Diego State’s Aztec Tennis Complex. The University of San Diego’s Skip and Cindy Hogan Tennis Center also hosted.

Guichard reached the singles final to earn her bid. That match was not contested, as both finalists were guaranteed entry. The NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships will be played Nov. 17-22 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.

All three Bruin doubles pairs on hand advanced to the semifinals. Polina Marakhtanova/Rona Rugara of UCLA was stopped short of an NCAA doubles berth after an improbable run that included decisions over three seeded pairs and a ranked one.

Bruins Guichard, Marakhtanova and Jessica Bernales all prevailed in the first round of singles action. Guichard’s opening-round win was her only straight-set result. Two of the victories were comeback efforts, including a quarterfinal-round upset of Pepperdine’s 70th-ranked Chantal Sauvant. Guichard ultimately claimed her spot by beating Alexia Harmon of Pepperdine 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3.

UCLA’s doubles pairs of Bernales/Olivia Center and Guichard/Kayla Chung were seeded fourth and sixth, respectively. Following first-round byes, both rolled into the semifinals. The closest decision came in the quarterfinals, when Bernales/Center outlasted seventh-seeded Sara Svetac/Lily Taylor of Arizona State 8-7(2). Marakhtanova/Rugara bested second-seeded and 70th-ranked Sophia Christodoulou/Martyna Ostrzygalo of Arizona 8-3 before squeaking past No. 8 seed Harmon/Živa Falkner of Pepperdine. That set up a semifinal-round showdown with Chung/Guichard, which Marakhtanova/Rugara took 6-4, 7-5. Fifth-seeded Tea Lukic/Vessa Turley of San Diego State narrowly won the final 4-6, 6-4, 1-0(7).

Next up for the Bruins is a trip down to Rolling Hills Estates, Calif. for the Dennis Rizza Intercollegiate Classic at Jack Kramer Club. The event is set to begin Friday, Oct. 30 and concludes Sunday, Nov. 1.