Wild card achieves upset at Templeton tennis competition
Anastasiya Lopata.
– Wild card Anastasiya Lopata upset Canada’s Carson Branstine in the first round of the sixth annual EPIC Central Coast Tennis Classic at the Templeton Tennis Ranch. The 19-year-old Lopata, a junior at the University of Georgia from Kiev, Ukraine, won the match 6-1, 6-1.
Lopata gained entry into the $60,000 ITF World Tour and USTA Pro Circuit event by winning the singles title at the Battle in the Bay collegiate tournament held two weeks ago at UC Berkeley.
“I don’t know, maybe not,” said Lopata when asked if this victory over a player ranked No. 277 in the world was her biggest win. “I have also played a lot of good players in the NCAAs.”
Last season, Lopata became the lowest-ranked player to reach an NCAA Championship final.
“It’s pretty exciting,” she added. Lopata will next face another Canadian, No. 2-seeded Rebecca Marino, who defeated Jessica Failla 7-5, 6-1.
Top-seeded Renata Zarazua from Mexico, ranked No. 78 in the WTA world rankings, opened play with a straight-set win over Dejana Radanovic from Serbia. Zarazua made a finals run at this tournament last year and is a fan favorite in Templeton.
Following Zarazua’s match on Stadium Court, the Cal Poly women’s tennis wild card team of Peyton Dunkle and Amy Leather faced India Houghton and Camille Kiss but fell 6-4, 7-5.
No. 8 seed Iryna Shymanovich from Belarus had an easy match, eliminating Tara Moore from Great Britain 6-0, 6-2 in just one hour and six minutes in one of the four main-draw singles matches.
Qualifying concluded Tuesday, with San Diego’s Alyssa Ahn winning her second straight match to earn a spot in the main draw. The 17-year-old high school senior, who will attend Stanford University next year, defeated Slovakia’s Martina Okalova 7-6 (4), 1-6, 4-6. Ahn will next face Katrina Scott on Wednesday.
Other qualifiers who won matches Tuesday included Stefania Rogozinska Dzik (Poland), Maria Kononova (Russia), Veronica Miroshnichenko (Russia), Cadence Brace (Canada), and Americans India Houghton, Jenna Delfalco, and Rasheeda McAdoo.
The tournament is part of the ITF World Tennis Tour / USTA Pro Circuit. It is open to the public, with tickets starting at $25, available at www.centralcoasttennisclassic.com. Updates and news about the tournament can also be found on TTR’s Facebook, X, and Instagram pages at www.facebook.com/ttrprotennis and @TTRTennis.
