Northwestern University Athletics
Audra Cohen Advances to Quarterfinals of 2005 NCAA Singles Championships
5/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 25, 2005
ATHENS, Ga. - In round-three action at the 2005 NCAA Singles Championships, Audra Cohen (Plantation, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) needed a rare three sets to oust fellow-freshman Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech -- her doubles partner from the duo's junior tennis days. In the decisive set, Cohen turned in a magnificent, 6-0 performance to charge into the tournament's quarterfinal round.
"It's tough playing Kristi here since we played together in juniors," Cohen said. "I knew she'd come out fired up, but I thought I matched her intensity well. She's a great competitor and showed it today."
Wednesday's match provided a showdown between the country's best freshmen women's tennis players. Cohen leads the nation with 49 wins. Miller, who plays No. 1 singles for the Yellow Jackets, is the only other freshman to notch at least 40 singles wins this year.
Miller may have took the serve to start the match, but Cohen took the momentum from the get go. The Plantation, Fla. native won the first five points -- breaking Miller with the first four and landing an ace to start the second game.
Cohen then held serve in the second game, broke Miller in the third and extended to a 4-0 lead courtesy of her perfect service game in the fourth.
Miller settled in a bit and got her serve working to win her next two service games, bringing the set to 5-2. She then put Cohen on the ropes in the eighth game, presenting the Wildcat with triple-break point. Cohen responded by winning the next two points, but Miller took the following point and closed the gap to 5-3. It was the first of two times she would break Cohen's big serve. As Miller quickly gained momentum, Cohen stomped on the Yellow Jackets' chance at the first set by breaking her serve and taking the set 6-3.
In the second set, Miller flipped the script and won the first four games, returning Cohen the favor of a 4-0 deficit. Then, much like Miller in the first set, Cohen tried to claw back by holding her next two service games, bringing the set to 5-2. But Miller held in the eighth game to push the match to a third set.
There, Cohen eradicated any doubt of who would be moving on to the quarterfinal round by winning 6-0. She began by holding serve. Then, she did not allow Miller a single point in the second game, breaking the Yellow Jacket for the third time. Cohen rolled to a 3-0 lead by slamming an overhand that landed in the upper gallery of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex ... a souvenir from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rookie of the Year for some lucky fan.
Cohen next broke Miller for the fourth time and went up 4-0. She then iced the fifth game with a running cross-court forehand winner that drew applause from even the Georgia Tech faithful.
The perfect, 6-0 third set came to a close in the next game as Cohen broke Miller for the fifth and final time.
• Live scoring and daily results are available at UGA's tournament website and the NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship page .
2005 NCAA Singles Championships Third Round Results
#3 Audra Cohen (NU) def. Kristi Miller (GA TECH) 6-3, 2-6, 6-0
Cohen's Quarterfinal Match
vs. Story Tweedi-Yates (TCU) at 10 a.m. CT Thursday, May 26
