Shibahara On a Roll at ITA Masters

MALIBU, Calif. – Ena Shibahara continues her hot streak in the fall tournament season, this time punching her ticket to the 2016 Oracle ITA Masters semifinals. The freshman standout advanced with a three-set win over Duke's Meible Chi in the quarterfinals on Friday evening.

In her morning match, second-seeded Shibahara coasted past Wichita State's Gabriela Porubin in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals. In a battle between two top-10 freshmen in the ITA's preseason Newcomer/Freshmen Rankings, Shibahara got off to a hot start with a 6-2 first-set win over Chi. Shibahara jumped out to an early lead in the second, but Chi battled back to knot the score at 4-4. Chi then held and broke her Bruin opponent to take the second set, 6-4, and force a third.

The final set went down to the wire, but Shibahara outlasted Chi and held on for the 7-5 win. On Saturday, Shibahara faces third-seeded Sara Daavettila of North Carolina in the semis. The match takes place at 10 a.m. at the Malibu Racquet Club.

On the men's side, seventh-seeded Brymer dictated the pace early against Tulsa's Or Ram-Harel, taking the first set 6-1. Brymer continued this momentum into the second set, coasting into the quarterfinals with a straight-set win over his opponent. In his afternoon match, Brymer squared off with No. 2 seed Ryotaro Matsumura (Kentucky), where he fell in straights.

Eighth-seeded Redlicki registered a quick 6-2 win over David Biosca in the first set of his round of 16 match. The Bruin won two of three break points and served up two aces. The second set was a closer matchup, as Biosca battled back to force a third. Knotted at 6-6, the match would be decided in the tiebreaker. After trading point for point, Redlicki and Biosca were tied at six apiece. Biosca then won two straight points to take the match and oust his Bruin foe.

In mixed doubles, the Bruins did not advance out of the quarterfinals. The second-seeded duo of Shibahara and Redlicki were upset by Blair Shankle and Max Tchoutakian (Baylor), 6-2, while the third-seeded pair of Brymer and Sara Daavettila fell to No. 6 seed Chi and Matsumura, 6-2.

Singles action continues for UCLA tomorrow in Malibu. Live stream of the matches will be available at FloTennis.com, while updated draws and daily recaps can be found at the ITA event page.

For updates, follow @UCLAWTennis and @ITA_Tennis on Twitter and use the hashtag #OracleITAMasters.

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Shibahara On a Roll at ITA Masters

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Shibahara On a Roll at ITA Masters

Players Mentioned

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