Fighting Illini Set to Host ITA Midwest Regional Championships

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois Women's Tennis is set to host the 2025 ITA Midwest Regional Championships from Oct. 16-21 at Atkins Tennis Center. All eight Illini will compete in the event through a combination of singles and doubles play.

Risa Ueno and Rosie Seccia will open ITA Midwest Regional action in the singles qualifying draw. Lizzie Isyanov, Tess Bucher, Ariel Madatali, Cara Mester, Alice Xu, and McKenna Schaefbauer will start singles play in the main draw. In the doubles draw, Illinois' tandems of Schaefbauer/Mester, Seccia/Madatali, Isyanov/Ueno, and Bucher/Xu will work together.

The single-elimination tournament is one of four events during Illinois' fall schedule that serves as a qualifier for the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in November. 

Action from Atkins Tennis Center will feature a qualifying and main draw for the singles tournament and a main draw for doubles.

Illinois remains home after a majority of the squad competed in the UTR/PTT Tournament hosted at Atkins from Oct. 6-10. The squad's last collegiate outing was the Nebraska Invite, where all eight student-athletes made the trip to Lincoln, Nebraska. Schaefbauer,  Isyanov and Ueno all finished undefeated in three singles matches apiece. Bucher, Madatali and Mester all went 2-1. Meanwhile, Bucher and Xu teamed up to go 4-0 on the doubles court.

Previously, Schaefbauer and Madatali served up the season at the ITA All-American Championships in Cary, N.C., where they competed in the pre-qualifying singles and pre-qualifying doubles draws.

Illinois is hosting the Midwest Regional for the first time since 2021, when four Illini qualified for Super Regionals. In last year's Midwest Regionals, held at Ohio State, six Illinois student-athletes started out in the singles main draw, with Schaefbauer advancing to the quarterfinals.

Each of the 2024 ITA Men's and Women's Division I Regional Championships will have a draw size of the following, (Singles: Minimum of 64 Main Draw, Minimum of 64 Qualifying) (Doubles: Minimum of 32 Main Draw, Minimum of 32 Qualifying). From this, the two singles finalists from each region (26) will qualify for the NCAA Singles Championship. Meanwhile, the doubles champion from each region (13) will qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship.

Schedule

Play will start at 9 a.m. CT (unless noted otherwise) with doubles when applicable.

Thursday, October 16th:
Qualifying Singles – Round of 64
Qualifying Singles – Round of 32

Friday, October 17th:
Main Draw Singles – Round of 64
Main Draw Doubles – Round of 64

Saturday, October 18th:
Main draw singles – Round of 32
Main draw singles – Round of 16
Main draw doubles – Round of 32

Sunday, October 19th:
Main draw singles – Quarterfinals
Main draw doubles – Round of 16
Main draw doubles – Quarterfinals

Monday, October 20th:
Main Draw Singles – Semifinals
Main Draw Doubles – Semifinals

Tuesday, October 21st:
Main Draw Singles – Final
Main Draw doubles – Final