After two days of competition at the USTA/ITA Fall South Region Championships, Emory University players comprise both of doubles teams headed to tomorrow’s championship match, and three of the four players still alive in the singles draw.

In singles play, top seed Gabrielle Clark, second seed Zahra Dawson, and ninth seed Jordan Wylie all advanced through their two matches on Saturday for Emory.  Clark, a freshman, continued to make quick work of her competition, dispensing Sewanee’s with a 6-1, 6-1 effort in the round of 16, followed by a 6-0, 6-0 victory over ninth seed Katie Scott of Huntingdon.

On the other side of the bracket, Dawson bested two teammates during the day, defeating freshman Malavika Padmanabhan 6-2, 7-5 in the round of 16, and sophomore Kelsey Grad 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals.  The loss for Grad ended a run of back-to-back wins over seeded opponents, after she defeated eighth-seed Rachel Storz of Agnes Scott on Friday, and then ninth-seeded Kaitlin Flaherty of Methodist in the round of 16 on Saturday.

Wylie captured the biggest upset of the day for Emory, coming from behind to defeat fourth seed Jenny Liles of Sewanee, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, in the quarterfinals to advance to tomorrow’s semifinals.  Earlier in the day she earned a 6-0, 6-0 win over Rhodes’ Alice Havner. 

Third seed Lorne McManigle’s bid for her third-consecutive ITA Fall Singles Championships came to an end on Saturday, as the senior lost to Sewanee’s Kate Stanford, 6-4, 7-6 (2), to end her singles bracket run in the quarterfinals.  She earned a 6-1, 7-5 win over freshman teammate Taylor Brandt earlier in the day.

Tomorrow’s singles semifinal matches will feature Clark against Wylie and Dawson against Sewanee’s Stanford.  The semifinal winners will play for the regional championship and a trip to the ITA Small College Nationals on Sunday as well.

In doubles action, it will be an all-Emory final for the fourth-straight year, after the top-seeded pairing of McManigle and Dawson advanced to the championship match where they will face the sixth-seeded pair of Clark and Kelly.  McManigle and Dawson picked up an 8-3 win over Sewanee’s Garland and Michelle Flume in the quarterfinals, followed by a 9-7 victory over Mariana LeBrao and Kendal Ruffner of Berry College.

The path to the championship match was tougher for Clark and Kelly, who bested the third-seeded duo of Alice Havner and Anna Beth Sanford from Rhodes College by an 8-2 score in the quarterfinals on Saturday.  In the semifinal round, facing the second-seeded pairing of Jenny Liles and Kate Stanford from Sewanee, the pair of Emory freshman came through again, winning a 9-8 nail-biter with a 7-4 tiebreaking set. 

Earlier in the day, Lindsay Reidenbach and Grad, the only other Emory doubles team active during the day, lost 8-2 to Liles and Stanford. 

Play at the 2010 USTA/ITA will continue with the final two rounds of singles play and the doubles championship match on Sunday in Sewanee, TN.