Unseeded American tennis player Makenna Jones scores win over No. 7 seed
Makenna Jones photo by Lori Sortino.
– Former NCAA doubles champion from the University of North Carolina Makenna Jones has won eight ITF doubles titles this year alone, but it is her singles play this week at the EPIC Central Coast Tennis Classic that has people taking notice.
The 25-year-old Jones is the daughter of former world No. 1 doubles player Kelly Jones, who like Makenna is a former NCAA doubles champ as dad won two titles playing for Pepperdine University in 1984 and 1985. Kelly is married to Makenna’s mother Tami Whitlinger, a two-time All-American at Stanford University in the late 1980s.
The unseeded Jones, ranked No. 250 in the world, beat No. 7 Elsa Jacquemot of France, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-5, to reach the quarterfinals of the USTA Pro Circuit $60,000 event taking place this week at the Templeton Tennis Ranch. Jones next meets No. 4 Iryna Shymanovich in the final eight on Friday.
Later in the day, Jones and Sophie Chang lost as the top-seeded doubles team in the second round.
In other action on Thursday qualifier Hanna Chang won her fourth straight match taking out No. 3 Katherine Sebov of Canada, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3, while No. 2 Katie Volynets took out the wild-card Chang, 6-4, 6-3.
Another American wild card had better results as former University of Florida All-American McCartney Kessler upset No. 6 Hailey Baptiste, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. In another All-American matchup, No. 5 Ann Li got past unseeded Louisa Chirico, 7-5, 6-2.
The semifinals are set in doubles as Jones-Chang ousters Maria Kozyreva and Veronika Miroshinchenko take on wild cards Kessler and Alana Smith. In the other semifinal Lulu Sun and Volynets meet Americans Jessie Aney and Jaeda Daniel.
Visit the tournament’s website www.centralcoasttennisclassic.com to purchase tickets and see scheduling details. Follow the Facebook page www.facebook.com/ttrprotennis for player announcements and the latest tournament news. Once again the year’s RadioTennis.com will be on hand with Ken Thomas providing his analysis and commentary on the matches.
For live scores, click here. For live streams of the matches, click here.
Comments
