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Alisha Chulani prevailed in a third-set tiebreaker to advance to the singles quarterfinals
Alisha Chulani prevailed in a third-set tiebreaker to advance to the singles quarterfinals
Posted: May 19, 2023

Chulani Fights Off Three Match Points to Move on to NCAA Singles Quarterfinals

ORLANDO, Fla. – Alisha Chulani fought off three match points to win a third-set tiebreaker 8-6 to advance to the NCAA Division III Women's Tennis Singles Quarterfinals on Friday with a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 win over Kristal Dule of North Carolina Wesleyan at the USTA National Campus.

Chulani advanced out of the first round when her opponent had to retire due to injury late in the first set. She then faced Dule in the Round of 16, and took the first set 6-4, before Dule bounced back to take a 6-4 second-set win for a split.

The third set saw Dule leading 4-3 when there was a brief weather delay. After resuming, Chulani won back-to-back games and went ahead 5-4, then battled back from 15-40 to get to deuce before Dule fought off the match point to tie it 5-5 and stay in it.

In the tiebreaker, Chulani got the first two points, but Dule found her stride and won the next four to take a 4-2 lead into the changeover. After Chulan won the next point, she had an ace and a winner down the line to go ahead 6-3, but Chulani defended the next two points on her serve, and then had a big return to pull level again 6-6. After the changeover, she kept the momentum and finished off the match with two more points as the final shot from Dule sailed wide.

Chulani will advance to face Angie Zhou of Pomona-Pitzer in tomorrow's quarterfinal round at 1 p.m.

Audrey Yoon also advanced out of the first round in singles to earn All-America honors, prevailing in a tough battle with Ida Krause of NYU. Yoon was battling injury through the Orlando heat and served underhand for a good portion of the match, but was able to gut put a 7-5, 7-6 decision before withdrawing from the Round of 16.

Chulani and Nikolina Batoshvili played in doubles after Chulani's epic three-setter in singles, and fell 6-1, 6-3 to Emory, leaving Chulani's singles match as the only thing left on the CMS schedule.

Chulani and Zhou met in the regular season match between CMS and Pomona-Pitzer, which Zhou won 6-3, 6-2, but the two players did not match up against each other in either the SCIAC finals or the NCAA Division III Regional finals.