Despite positing a 66-19 career singles record, Florida junior Alexander Cercone has hasn’t duplicated that kind of success in her junior season.
In her first four matches, winning has not come easy to the junior this year, as she has gone 1-3 in singles play.
Cercone started off on the right foot on Friday with winning her first two matches at the ITA Southeast Regional Tournament in Tampa, Fla., to advance to the round of 16.
She defeated FGCU’s Johanna Sterkel swiftly by a score of 6-2, 6-0 and flew past USF’s Kate Parker, 6-1. 6-2.
She displayed her first performance of dominant play, defeating her two opponents in only two sets each. Forty-ninth-ranked Cercone won 24 out of 29 games she played, compared to her winning 44 out of 95 games in her four previous matches.
Cercone will have to continue to step up as she is expected to be the consistent No. 3 or No. 4 player for this team come spring. Last year, she finished with a 12-3 record in those spots.
Three other Gators advanced to the round of 16. Also, two doubles teams advanced to the round of 32: Alexander Cercone/Caroline Hitimana and Danielle Collins/Olivia Janowicz.
Janowicz lost in the first round of singles while 78th-ranked Hitimana got upset by Miami’s Nicole Stracar, 6-4, 6-1.
The singles round of 16 and the doubles round of 32 and 16 takes place on Saturday.
