This weekend, Illinois junior Asuka Kawai competed in the 2019 Oracles ITA Masters at Pepperdine University, in Malibu, California. There were 32 men and 32 women from around the nation who played in the four-day tournament.

Kawai was the top returning player from the Big Ten Conference and came into the tournament ranked No. 20 out of 32 person field.

On Thursday, Kawai played in doubles and singles. Her partner for doubles was Illini junior Alex Brown. They were the number 12-seed in the tournament.

The pair played against freshman Brandon Ancona from Valparaiso University and junior Anna Riedmiller from the University of Denver. But, they lost the set 4-6.

In singles, Kawai was again the number 12-seed. She played against the number 21-seed Alisa Soloveva, a senior from Winthrop University. Kawai won the first set 6-4 but lost the second and third set, 1-6 and 3-6, respectively.

On Friday, Kawai only participated in singles. She played against the number 28-seed Rachel Papavasilopoulos, a sophomore from Eastern Illinois University. Kawai won the match, with the first set 6-2 and the second set 7-5.

On Saturday, Kawai played against the number 20-seed Kalani Soli, a junior from Liberty University. She lost the match 5-7 and 2-6. She finished the tournament with a record of 1-2 in singles and 0-1 for doubles.

Kawai will be playing again Oct. 5-13 at the ITA Women’s All-American tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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