Howdy, y’all and Happy Tennis Tuesday! We’ll delve into the pro tennis happenings in a moment, but this week’s TT is about college! The second biggest event in college tennis, the ITA Division I Women’s National Team Indoor Championship, concluded last week.
The tournament was co-hosted by Northwestern and Illinois, with main draw play split between the Combe Tennis Center in Evanston and the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, before semifinal and finals action came home to Northwestern. The two-host format, now in its second year, gave the sport a bigger footprint and college tennis fans two venues to follow throughout the week.
No. 1 Georgia captured the 2026 Division I Women’s ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Tuesday, defeating No. 10 Ohio State 4-3 in one of the most dramatic championship matches college tennis has seen in recent memory. The victory gave Georgia their sixth ITA Division I Women’s National Team Indoor Title and ninth national championship in program history.
The Bulldogs got off to the perfect start in doubles, earning victories on courts No. 1 and No. 2 to take the one-point advantage into singles play. Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert took down the Buckeyes’ Hephzibah Oluwadare and Teah Chavez 6-4, while Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte dominated on court two with a 6-1 win over Luciana Perry and Flora Johnson.
However, Ohio State wasn’t going quietly. The Buckeyes countered in singles, drawing the match into a near stalemate for much of the afternoon. With OSU claiming courts No. 1, No. 2, and No. 5, and Georgia securing courts No. 4 and No. 6, the match was deadlocked at 3-3, leaving everything to be decided on court No. 3.
That deciding match delivered, with a third-set tiebreak deciding it all for the title. Deniz Dilek came through for Georgia over Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev 6-0, 4-6, 7-6 (9-7) — coming back from 0-5 and match points down in the tiebreaker to claim the win. For head coach Drake Bernstein, it marks his third national championship and sixth overall title since taking over as head coach prior to the 2024 season. He continues to build one of the most dominant programs in college tennis.
Dilek was named the Most Outstanding Player in the All-Tournament Team, which saw Georgia and Ohio State split the six singles positions on the list.
Doubles:
1. Deniz Dilek/Aysegul Mert (UGA) def. #13 Hephzibah Oluwadare/Teah Chavez (OSU): 6-4
2. Anastasiia Lopata/Patricija Paukstyte (UGA) def. #55 Luciana Perry/Flora Johnson (OSU): 6-1
3. Emma Dong/Anastasiia Gureva (UGA) vs. Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev/Audrey Spencer (OSU): 5-5 (unfinished)
Singles:
1. #3 Luciana Perry (OSU) def. #74 Anastasiia Lopata (UGA): 7-6(4), 6-4
2. #13 Teah Chavez (OSU) def. #4 Aysegul Mert (UGA): 7-5, 6-4
3. #23 Deniz Dilek (UGA) def. #114 Sophia Cisse-Ignatiev (OSU): 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(7)
4. #33 Anastasiia Gureva (UGA) def. #52 Nao Nishino (OSU): 6-2, 6-2
5. Audrey Spencer (OSU) def. Emma Dong (UGA): 6-4, 7-6(7)
6. #42 Sofia Rojas (UGA) vs. Hephzibah Oluwadare (OSU): 7-6(3), 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2, 1, 3); Singles (4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3)
On to links!
This Week in Women’s Tennis
Armed with her bag of arsenal, Karolina Muchova won her first title since 2019 at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open with a straight-sets victory over Victoria Mboko. The doubles title was captured by Anna Danilina and Aleksandra Krunic, who had an epic comeback against Hsieh Su-Wei and Jelena Ostapenko.
Destanee Aivia shared that the 2026 season will be her last on tour at the age of 25, citing a toxic, racist and hostile tennis culture.
Next week, we’re expected to hear the news Craig Tiley will be leaving Tennis Australia for the USTA.
Both Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek withdrew from Dubai, which has been hit hard by pullouts recently, opening the question of the calendar/”points-chasing.”
18 years ago, Elina Svitolina turned pro and she’s rebounded from injury post-motherhood to find herself back in the Top 10 and getting closer to Grand Slam glory.
Coco Gauff was open about “showing up” for matches recently and the mental block she’s currently facing.
Iva Jovic has had a meteoric rise and now she’s finding ground inside the Top 20.
Tereza Valentova hopes to add her name along the Czech greats that have made massive dents in the women’s tennis game the last couple of decades.
A year ago, Mirra Andreeva entered Dubai and left a Top 10 player and a year later, she’s reflected on the season that changed her career.
A group chat led to the creation of The Players Box – a podcast hosted by Jennifer Brady, Desirae Krawczyk, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula.
Congratulations to Billie Jean King who was named to Forbes’ Innovator 250 List.
Tweet of the Week
After they’ve won titles the same weekend twice before, Katie Boulter had the perfect opportunity to troll her fiance Alex De Minaur after he won a title the following week of her Ostrava win:
Five at The IX: Doha
Q. Obviously you’ve had so many great results since that first title, but how does it feel differently to have a trophy at the end of the week?
KAROLINA MUCHOVA: You know, it’s different. It’s tough. I would say I nearly forgot the winning feeling, because it’s been really quite awhile. To get reminded of it, actually, I was pretty nervous before the match. I’m like, Okay, how am I going to deal with it, how am I going to manage it. And then when you actually make it, and I dealt with that pressure I think very good in today’s match, I was just relieved.
And the intensity of the feeling of winning, it’s just so nice. Yeah, I’m just trying to enjoy it, because in tennis everything goes so fast. I think sometimes we forget to stop and reflect on the good weeks, or small wins, big wins. My next tournament starts tomorrow (laughing), so it’s really tough. But I would just like to stop for a little bit and enjoy it with my team, and just go somewhere tonight with them and have a good time and maybe reflect a little more.
Q. Last year when you were playing on the tour you were probably the underdog, not expected to win. Now you’re in a position where you’re expected to win a lot of matches you play against lower-ranked players. What’s that mindset change like? How do you feel in that position being the favorite in many matches?
VICTORIA MBOKO: Yeah, I understand why I would be the favorite now most of the time. But there’s still so many talented girls out there, and it’s tennis, anything can happen. If I was the underdog and being able to play many top players and having a chance to win, I mean, many other people have that opportunity too. I’m not putting much pressure on myself, I just want to go out there and play.
Q. From compared to last year and getting back to where you were, where have you seen the biggest evolution in yourself as a player?
MARIA SAKKARI: Okay. I think I would say mostly on the style we decided to play. Just being a very aggressive player, but also at the same time solid, if that makes sense. I feel like if you try to make balls now days, you’re done. Everyone plays big and fast, and you need to, you know, develop and just become a more aggressive player. But of course I cannot be ultra aggressive like an Ostapenko or Aryna or someone that is bigger, taller, and has, you know, a bigger coverage because of their height. But going to the net is also something that we always want to do in the matches and I think it’s been working really well so far.
Q. Thinking about the last 10 years you’ve been on tour, what in your mind are some areas where you’ve been pretty much the same in terms of your playing style and attitude, and some areas in which you changed over your career?
JELENA OSTAPENKO: I think dealing with my emotions, for sure. I think of course there’s some tricky matches where, as I’m a very emotional person in general, so I get into emotions. But as long as I can balance it and it doesn’t affect my game I think that’s what I was working the most. I feel like especially this week, also in Australia, like first two rounds I felt like I was playing also good tennis, so I felt like it’s coming. Especially like playing here semis in singles, I think, yeah, my game is obviously working better, and I feel like I’m getting in the zone. And even losing matches, it’s still, I mean, today losing the singles match, I feel like it was still a good match and there is a lot of things to take from that, yeah, to move forward.
Q. From outside it seems that you’re making more mistakes on the big points than you used to do. Is it because you’re trying different things, like going to the net or going for your shots more, or is it a confidence thing?
IGA SWIATEK: No, I think, yeah, I haven’t been that solid. I went to the net today because of the wind. Like, when I was playing with the wind, the ball kind of stopped. So when I went to follow it, I was already like in the middle of the court, so I had to make a decision of going in or backing out. Yeah, I wanted to go for it, so I tried.
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