The Auburn University women's tennis team begins their run at the ITA All-American Championships today, Wednesday, September 25, at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, North Carolina, with junior DJ Bennett and graduate student Ava Hrastar qualifying together for the doubles main draw and separately for the singles main draw.
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In the ITA preseason singles rankings released in August, Bennett and Hrastar were ranked No. 32 and No. 57, respectively. The two Tigers are ranked No. 18 in the preseason doubles rankings. Hrastar also competed in the event last season during her time at Ole Miss, earning a doubles win in the consolation qualifying bracket.
Bennett had a lot of success at last years event, where she and Selin Ovunc became the first Auburn doubles team to reach the main draw quarterfinals since Emily Flickinger and Pleun Bergmans in 2014. Bennett and Ovunc won five straight matches to reach the quarterfinals after starting their run in the qualifying round, including a 6-4, 5-7, (10-3) victory over the then-sixth-ranked doubles team in the nation.
In singles, she won four straight matches between the pre-qualifying and qualifying rounds, highlighted by a 6-1, 6-0 blowout win over Abbey Forbes of North Carolina.
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The main draw will feature 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams and will run Wednesday through Sunday. From the main draw, eight quarterfinalists and two feed-in consolation finalists will punch their tickets to the NCAA Singles Championship in the fall. Meanwhile, the two doubles teams from the main draw semifinals will secure a bid to the NCAA Doubles Championship.
