SBCC’s Bruna Magalhaes posted a pair of wins on Friday at Buena High to reach the quarterfinals of the State Women’s Tennis Championships, hosted by the historic Ojai Tournament.
Magalhaes got past Jessica Wilcox of Saddleback 6-1, 6-0 in her 8 a.m. match and then beat Sara Choi of El Camino 7-6, 6-2 in the Round of 16. She’ll take on Remy Littrell of Palomar in a quarterfinal on Saturday at the Ojai Athletic Club, starting at 8 a.m.
If she wins, Magalhaes will play in the semifinals at 11 a.m.
Magalhaes and doubles partner, Nadya Bravo, were extended to the brink by Tiffany Johannsen-Andrea Reyes of Cuyamaca before posting a 6-4, 4-6 (10-4, 10-point tiebreaker) victory in a Round of 32 match. It was the third match of the day for Magalhaes, a freshman from Brazil who’s a No. 1 seed, and she was facing a fourth match.
Coach Ken Thomas decided it was best for his No. 6-seeded doubles duo to default their Round of 16 meeting with Serena Cardenas-Alecs Comahig of Riverside.
“Bru had a long and tough day and our thinking was, let’s default the second doubles match so that we can give Bru’s body a chance to recover and give her a good solid shot at the winning the State singles title,“ said Thomas. “It’s important to point out that Bru and Nadya went out as winners.
“They won their last match together and they went off the court with a sense of pride. I can not say enough kind things about Nadya Bravo in her being comfortable with the decision to default the second doubles so that Bru could be properly rested. It was a very unselfish act by Nadya. A very classy gesture by Nadya.”
Magalhaes and Bravo were finalists in the WSC doubles tournament and won two matches at Ojai. “That’s not easy to do, they did a great job,” Thomas said.
