Turkovic & Spaka Advance to Semifinals in Doubles Draw at the ITA All-American Championships
CARY, NC — Domenika Turkovic and Patricija Spaka, a year removed from a highly-decorated season alongside each other as the Sun Devils' top-ranked doubles duo, have advanced to the semifinals in doubles at the ITA All-American Championships.
The pair's third win in as many days came Friday afternoon against South Carolina's Ayana Akli/Sarah Hamner (4-6, 6-3, 10-3), cementing their spot as one of the final four doubles teams remaining.
All that stands in the way from a trip to the finals is a semifinals date with NC State's Nell Miller and Amelia Rajecki, set for Saturday, October 8 at 11:30 a.m. MST from Cary Tennis Park.
The match can be streamed through the Cracked Racquets CrossCourt Cast or the numerous PlaySight cameras from the facility. Doubles play will begin following the conclusion of singles action.
Semifinal Smiles ?
Quarterfinal play is complete here at the Cary Tennis Center! Updated draws and results can be found below for both singles and doubles!
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— ITA (@ITA_Tennis) October 7, 2022
HOW THEY GOT THERE
A qualifier for the doubles Main Draw, the Sun Devil duo opened play Wednesday and has since rattled off a trio of wins.
Wednesday: def. UNLV's Molly Helgesson/Zita Kovacs (6-2, 6-3)
Thursday: def. Fresno State's (Yinglak Jittakoat/Matilde Magrini (7-6, 4-6, 10-6)
Friday: def. South Carolina's Ayana Akli/Sarah Hamner (4-6, 6-3, 10-3)
QUOTES
Turkovic: "It's been a great week already but we're not satisfied yet. We're playing well and the energy is there so we'll look for it to continue in our next match. ... We're all playing well. I think that we're doing the right things in doubles. I am looking forward to the season with this team because we're all hungry to get better in both singles and doubles."
Spaka: "I'm super proud of both of us but we're not done yet. We're super excited to play the semis tomorrow and we'll do our best to reach the goal."
LOOKING BACK
Turkovic and Spaka spent each of the Sun Devils' 25 matches -- including the postseason -- together on doubles Court 1. They went 10-5 throughout the spring, beginning the year 5-0 that included a statement win over UCLA's No. 23 Ava Catanzarite/Abigail Forbes in mid-March. They were also one of 32 duos selected to compete at the NCAA Doubles Championships and ended the season ranked as the country's No. 39 doubles team and No. 2 in the Southwest Region.
They sported a national ranking for nearly 12 consecutive weeks, becoming the school's first doubles team to qualify for the NCAA Tournament since 2018.
KEEP UP WITH THE SUN DEVILS
Stay up to date with the Sun Devils in what has already been a busy fall season via this story here, which contains scores and results from each tournament.
ABOUT THE ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Since 1983, the ITA Women's All-American Championships have featured the nation's top NCAA Division I players and have been a pioneer in women's college tennis. In addition, the event has created milestones that have directly influenced the popularity of women's collegiate tennis over the years.