Women’s Tennis Cracks Top 10; Two Tigers Ranked In Top Five

March 3, 2009

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson women’s tennis team moved up to ninth in Tuesday’s Campbell/ITA Tennis poll on Tuesday to crack the top 10 for the first time since Jan. 29, 2008. Meanwhile, Ani Mijacika and Josipa Bek were ranked at #1 and #4 in the singles poll to make the Tigers the only team in the country with two top-10 ranked players. In all, five Clemson players earned singles rankings with three doubles teams listed in the doubles poll.

Clemson owns an 8-4 record for the season with three losses coming to teams currently ranked in the top 10 and the fourth suffered against now #14 Kentucky last weekend with two players medically unable to play. The Tigers knocked off then-ranked #4 Georgia Tech in mid-week action to open the conference schedule. They will play host to sixth-ranked Miami on Sunday, Mar. 8 in an ACC battle.

Mijacika claimed the #1 ranking for the third time in her career after earning the number two position in the last poll. She is still the only Clemson tennis player, man or woman, to have achieve the highest national ranking. The junior from Makarska, Croatia boasts an 20-4 overall record and won her first eight dual matches. Her only loss in spring play was during the ITA National Team Indoor Championships when she was forced to retire due to an injury. Prior to that, Mijacika had posted five straight wins over players ranked in the top 20.

After back-to-back losses in early February, Bek has put together a five-match winning that includes three at the top flight. She helped Clemson upset Georgia Tech last week with a victory over the Yellow Jackets’ 13th-ranked player. Bek, also a native of Croatia, is currently 20-6 for the year with a 9-3 record in dual matches.

Estefania Balda reentered the singles poll at #76. The Tiger junior has won two straight matches at flight two and is 11-11 for the year. Ina Hadziselimovic made her singles ranking debut at #117. The native of Sarajevo, Bosnia has won a pair of matches over ranked opponents and owns a 13-10 overall record.

Mijacika and Wong have partnered for a 6-2 record with three wins over top-35 opponents in dual matches. They head a trio of Tiger doubles teams in the rankings at #20. Bek and Hadziselimovic have teamed up in Clemson’s last eight matches for a 5-3 record and now rank 30th nationally. The duo posted an upset of Georgia Tech’s then-ranked number five tandem last week to help the Tigers clinch the doubles point and win the match.

Hadziselimovic and Wong were also listed at #79 in the doubles rankings after posting a 9-1 record through the fall and beginning of the spring season.