Sanders Hits a Minor Speed Bump in Illinois

Britney Sanders is having an incredible start to this tennis season. In fact, it could hardly be any better. The junior out of Ontario, Calif. hadn’t lost a singles match all season until this afternoon. She is a near-perfect 7-1. Not only is she dominating as a singles player, she is also 8-1 with her doubles partner Julie Sabacinski. Both of her losses came in the championship of their most recent tournament, the USTA/ITA Midwest Regional against the Kopinski/White duo of the Fighting Illini.

Today she took her 7-0 record into the singles final of the same tournament with a highly coveted automatic berth in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship on the line. Her opponent, Kate Turvy of Northwestern, was the number 2 seed in the tournament and rolled through the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep.

Sanders had already knocked off the number 1 seed Emina Bektas in the quarterfinals, so she came into the match with confidence. Unfortunately, she came up just a little short after forcing a third set which she lost 6-4. It was a tough loss to swallow, but Sanders has nothing to hang her head about.

After reaching the finals in both singles and doubles, she has shown she’s a force to be reckoned with this season. We’re all excited to see how Britney Sanders will attack the rest of the year.