Thurs. Daytona USTA Pro Circuit Results; Weekend Events

Three American women forged ahead into the quarterfinals on Thursday at the 2016 Daytona Beach Women’s Pro Championship. Fans of the USTA Pro Circuit event at the Florida Tennis Center will not only be treated to top-level tennis this weekend, but will also have the opportunity to win get-away packages to the US Open and New York City via jetBlue airlines.

On Thursday top-seeded American Shelby Rogers was toppled by the Ukraine’s Olga Fridman 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, but three of her U.S. compatriots advanced into the quarterfinals: No. 2 seed Grace Min defeated Czech Jesika Malekova 6-2, 7-6(3); No. 5 seed and former world No. 1 junior CiCi Bellis rolled past Ohio State freshman Francesca Di Lorenzo 6-3, 6-0; and No. 6 seed Asia Muhammad defeated Canadian Carol Zhao 6-2, 6-2.

In addition to the No. 1 seed Rogers, other Americans exiting on Thursday were qualifier Kayla Day who lost to the Ukraine’s Elizaveta Janchuk 6-3, 7-6(3), and Bernarda Pera who fell to No. 3 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia 6-2, 7-6(6).

The Friday quarterfinals will see No. 2 Min vs. No. 5 Bellis in an all-American battle, and the No. 6 Muhammad against Janchuk. Also in quarterfinal action will be Fridman vs. Bulgarian Elitsa Kostova in an all-unseeded meeting, and the No. 3 seed Jabeur vs. No. 7 seed Natalia Vikhlyantseva.

The Saturday singles semifinals and the doubles final, starting at 9:30 a.m., and the Sunday singles final at noon in Daytona will see some special prizes for spectators.

Saturday will include a drawing for one get-away package to the US Open (two jetBlue tickets to New York City and two “bronze Loge Level” tickets), and Sunday will include two tickets to New York City with jetBlue.

Former Daytona Beach Women’s Open singles and doubles champs:

2015 — Darya Kasatkina (RUS), Jan Abaza/Sanaz Marand (USA)
2014 — Anna Tatishvili (GEO), Nicole Melichar (USA)/Teodora Mircic (SRB)

For more info go to www.protennisdaytona.com.