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CARY, N.C. — The Kentucky women’s tennis team was represented by senior Zoe Hammond and junior Julia Zhu at the 2025 ITA All-American Championships this past week, bringing the experienced duo greats wins while on the road to qualifying for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship in November.
Hammond and Zhu played both singles and doubles over the week in Cary. The tournament was comprised of prequalifying, qualifying, and the main draw. 10 singles players qualify for the NCAA Championship because of the ITA All-American Championship.
In doubles, the experienced duo started play on day one in the prequalifying doubles draw. They defeated Nebraska’s No. 60 pair of Emma Rizzetto & Conley Raidt (6-2, 7-6(3)) to send them to they round of 32, where they ultimately fell to Oklahoma’s Barakat Quadre and Chloe Noel (7-6(3), 6-1).
Moving onto the singles play the next day, Zhu played in the singles qualifying draw as the No. 57 ranked player by ITA this preseason. In some of her best play after dropping the first set, Zhu soared to a round of 64 win against North Carolina’s No. 124 Claire Hill (4-6, 6-0, 6-1). Following the win, Zhu played the next day against NC State’s No. 88 Lavinia Tanasie, unfortunately dropping a highly contested match (6-2, 6-4). However, Zhu was lucky enough to sneak into the main draw as one of the last spots to extend her trip to Cary and give her a shot at qualifying for NCAAs.
Joining Zhu in the main draw was No. 20 Hammond. On the first day of the main draw in the round of 64, Zhu fell to Ohio State’s No. 11 Teah Chavez (6-4, 6-4), while Hammond soared to a victory against No. 54 Alejandra Cruz of Georgia Tech (6(5)-7, 6-3, 6-4).
The next day, Hammond fell to No. 43 Tatum Evans of North Carolina (7-6(4), 6-0). In the consolation bracket, Zhu defeated UNC Charlotte’s Prisca Abbas in three sets (6-4, 0-6, 6-2) to stay alive in the competition once again.
In the consolation round of 32, Zhu fell short of a comeback against No. 55 Gabia Paskauskas of Florida (6-4, 7-6(3)), in a super competitive and high-level match, ending her time at the championship. Hammond defeated No. 36 of Virginia Tech, Ozlem Uslu, in a three set comeback (2-6, 6-2, 6-1). Moving on to the qualifying consolation round of 16, Hammond lost to Ohio State’s No. 60 Nao Nishino in straight sets (6-0, 6-1) to finish the Wildcats time in Cary.
After a week of play, both Hammond and Zhu saw lots of action on the court. The duo, along with some other women’s tennis Wildcats, will return to play in the next NCAA Championship qualifying event on Oct. 16-21 in Knoxville, Tenn. at the ITA Regional Championships.
For the latest on UK Women’s Tennis, follow @UKWomensTennis on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
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