Top-Seeded Joni Urban of UCLA Upset in Tennis Championships at UC Irvine

Top-seeded Joni Urban of UCLA was upset by San Diego State’s Julie Tullberg, 6-1, 6-4, on the first day of the Rolex-ITCA (International Tennis Coaches’ Assn.) Southern California women’s tennis championships at UC Irvine Thursday.

In another first-round upset, Aby Brayton of the University of San Diego defeated fourth-seeded Kefi Binyamini, 6-4, 6-1. The other seeded players, Ginger Helgeson of Pepperdine (No. 2) and Tricia Laux of USC (No. 3) both advanced. Helgeson defeated Stephanie Bogue of USD, 6-1, 6-0, and Laux beat Catherine O’Meara of UCLA, 6-1, 6-4.

Haruko Shigekawa was the only UCI player, of five entered, to win her first-round match, defeating Julie Sanford of UC Santa Barbara, 6-4, 7-5.

The second-round singles and the first-round doubles of the tournament, which is a regional qualifying tournament for the ITCA National Indoor championships, were interrupted by rain. Play will resume today at 8 a.m., one hour earlier than scheduled, with semifinal rounds on Saturday. The singles final is scheduled for Sunday at 10 a.m., followed by the doubles final.