MILWAUKEE, Wisc. – Portland sophomore Iva Zelic knocked out the No. 2 seed en route to a pair of singles victories and advanced to the quarterfinals of the high-profile 45th annual Milwaukee Tennis Classic at the Western Racquet Club on Saturday.

Zelic posted an opening round, come-from-behind victory over Bronte Murgett of Missouri, the 34th-ranked player in the ITA Rankings. Zelic advanced with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win against Murgett and then cruised to a 6-0, 7-5 win against Jillian Taggart of Navy in the Round of 16.

Zelic will meet the No. 5 seed and 55th-ranked Eryn Cayetano of Southern California in Sunday's quarterfinals with the winner advancing to the semifinals in the afternoon. The tournament finals are scheduled for Monday morning.

Pilot true freshman Sally Pethybridge made her collegiate debut with a straight set loss to No. 60 Ivana Corley of Oklahoma. Pethybridge played well in a consolation match, but fell in a third set super tiebreaker to Marquette senior Natalija Popovic.

The Portland duo opened the event with a 6-3 doubles loss to Ludmila Kareisová and Sabina Machalova of Ole Miss.

"It is great to be back at fall competitions and test ourselves against some of the best players in the country," Portland interim head coach Filip Zivkovic said. "We played some really good singles today in all four matches. Iva had one of the best singles wins in the history of our program. Those are the opportunities we came here for and it was great to see her hard work pay off.
"Sally also played some really good tennis today. Things didn't quite go her way, but she battled to the last point and that's all a coach can ask for. This is a tremendous learning opportunity for Sally and a great first college tennis experience. I look forward to seeing her improve as she continues adjusting to college tennis."

An ITA Gold Level Event, the singles champion of the Milwaukee Tennis Classic will earn a wildcard entry into the 2021 ITA National Fall Championships, to be held November 4-7 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, California.

The 32-player women's draw features nine players ranked in the preseason ITA Rankings in singles. The doubles draw features the top-ranked sister duo of Ivana and Carmen Corley from Oklahoma and No. 7-ranked Murgett and Marta Oliveira of Missouri.

45th Annual Milwaukee Tennis Classic
Western Racquet Club (Milwaukee, Wisc.)
September 18, 2021

Singles
32 Iva Zelic (POR) def. #34 (2) Bronte Murgett (MIZ) 2-6, 6-4, 6-3
32 #60 (4) Ivana Corley (OKLA) def. Sally Pethybridge (POR)  6-1, 6-2
16 Zelic (POR) def. Jillian Taggart (NAVY) 6-0, 7-5
C Natalija Popovic (MARQ) def. Pethybridge (POR) 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (8)
QF Zelic (POR) vs. #56 (5) Eryn Cayetano (USC), Sunday

Doubles
16 Ludmila Kareisová/Sabina Machalova (MISS) def. Zelic/Pethybridge (POR) 6-3