MADISON, Wis. – After dropping the doubles point and going down 3-2, No. 34 Illinois women's tennis came back to secure an upset of No. 21 Wisconsin from the Nielsen Tennis Stadium Friday evening. Josie Frazier clinched the win while Megan Heuser, Kasia Treiber and Kida Ferrari each added wins as well. The victory marks the first win over a top-25 squad since April 21, 2019.
With the win, Illinois climbed to 17-6 on the season including an 8-1 record in Big Ten play. UI stands alone in third place in the B1G standings. Wisconsin moved to 15-5 overall and 5-3 in league play with the loss.
Additionally, the Illini are now 5-4 in matches against ranked teams this season.
Wisconsin ended Illinois' doubles point streak, earning the first point of Friday's match. Frazier and Ashley Yeah fell 6-3 before UW's duo took a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles over Kate Duong and Heuser.
Ferrari was the first off the singles courts after cruising to a 6-3, 6-0 win at No. 6 to even the match at 1-1. She is now 12-7 on the season and 2-2 in B1G action. Treiber followed with a straight-set victory of her own, 6-4, 6-3, at No. 5, giving Illinois a 2-1 lead. Treiber's win came over No. 110-ranked Xinyu Cai as she improved to 15-11 overall and 5-1 in league play.
Wisconsin won the next two matches – No. 1 and No. 2 singles – to regain the lead at 3-2.
From there, Heuser turned in a hard-fought 7-6 (5), 6-4 win at No. 3. She's now 14-9 on the season and 4-1 in Big Ten matches. With Heuser's win, the Illini and Badgers were tied at 3-3 and all eyes turned to No. 4 singles.
After dropping her opening frame 4-6, Frazier bounced back with a 6-3 second-set win to even things up and force the lone third-set of the match. Frazier took an early 2-0 lead before her counterpart got on the board at 2-1. From there, Frazier broke her opponent twice, winning four of the last five games for a 6-2 victory.
Frazier is now 13-10 overall and 5-2 in conference play.
Illinois has one more weekend of regular-season action remaining. On Saturday, April 22, the Illini will host Nebraska (13-8; 2-6 B1G) at 11 a.m. CT, before hosting Iowa (10-8; 5-3 B1G) a day later at 12 p.m. for Senior Day. Emily Casati and Ashley Yeah will be honored ahead of Sunday's match.
RESULTS:Â NO. 34 ILLINOIS 4, NO. 21 WISCONSIN 3
Doubles:
No. 1 – Xinyu Cai/Alina Mukhortova (Wisconsin) def. No. 7 Kate Duong/Megan Heuser– 6-4
No. 2 – Charmaine Seah/Taylor Cataldi (Wisconsin) def. Josie Frazier/Ashley Yeah – 6-3
No. 3 – Kida Ferrari/Violeta Martinez vs. Ariel Johnson/Maria Sholokhova (Wisconsin) – 5-4, unfinished
Singles:
No. 1 – No. 50 Ava Markham (Wisconsin) def. Kate Duong – 6-4, 7-6 (2)
No. 2 – No. 79 Maria Sholokhova (Wisconsin) def. No. 72 Ashley Yeah – 6-2, 7-5
No. 3 – Megan Heuser def. Alina Mukhortova (Wisconsin) – 7-6 (5), 6-4
No. 4 – Josie Frazier def. Taylor Cataldi (Wisconsin) – 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
No. 5 – Kasia Treiber def. No. 110 Xinyu Cai (Wisconsin) – 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 – Kida Ferrari def. Charmaine Seah (Wisconsin) – 6-3, 6-0
Order of Finish:
Doubles: 2, 1
Singles: 6, 5, 2, 1, 3, 4
Length: 3:24
