TAMPA, Fla. – Sunday's Bedford Cup championship match will have a Blue-Green feel. FGCU juniors
June Bjork and
Nora Svensson – both winning their semifinal matches on Saturday – advance to square off against each other in the tournament's top-rated flight.
This will be just the second time the teammates – and countrymates, both hailing from Sweden – will battle each other in official competition, and the first in a collegiate setting. On June 5, Bjork won the battle over Svensson, 5-7, 6-2, 7-6, at the Audi Danderyd Open in Täby, Sweden. Regardless of Sunday's winner, it will be the first time FGCU will win the main flight singles title at the Bedford Cup.
In all on Saturday, FGCU recorded nine singles wins while going undefeated in doubles action. The All-FGCU final between Bjorn and Svensson will be played at 9 a.m. Sunday.
Svensson was the first to claim a semifinal victory with a 6-4, 6-4 win over FIU's Sofia Fernandez Figueras. Bjork won in a gutty 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 10-8 decision over North Florida's Gabrielle Goyins. Both reached the semifinals with quarterfinal wins earlier in the day; Bjork with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-0) win over USF's Paulina Montiel and Svensson with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 victory over FAU's Panna Bartha.
Those were two of the four FGCU wins in semifinal competition Saturday. In the White flight quarterfinals,
Maria Vargas beat Florida State's Abby Kelliher, 6-3, 6-3, while
Ashley Matz soared to a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Stetson's Elizaveta Rozhkova in the Green flight. However, both fell in tough semifinals matches; Vargas to FAU's Anastasiya Kolyada, 6-0, 3-6, 10-5, and Matz to FAU's Alexia Patru, 0-6, 7-5, 10-3.
In the consolation bracket of the White flight,
Sabrina Jaramillo notched two victories on Saturday. The first game in the morning with a quick 6-3, 6-2 win over North Florida's May Fadida. Then in the afternoon, Jaramillo refused to lose in a 6-1, 1-6, 10-7 decision against South Florida's Francesca Miglio.
The success of Saturday was foreshadowed in the morning with the doubles competitions. Matz and Vargas posted a 6-4 win over FIU's Jelena Vico and Sofia Fernandez Figueras. Then Bjork and Svensson – teammates 24 hours before they turn opponents – fought for a 7-6 (8-6) win over FAU's Bartha and Katrin Pavkova. Rounding out the unblemished doubles competition on Saturday was
Africa Burillo Berezak and
Anjali Kotecha's 6-3 win over UNF's Zoe Dupaty and Fadida.
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