Virginia Downs Duke 4-2 to Advance to ACC Final

CARY, N.C. – The No. 7 Virginia women’s tennis team defeated No. 4 Duke (21-3) 4-2 in the semifinals of the 2025 ACC Women’s Tennis Championship on Saturday (April 19) at the Cary Tennis Park.

Freshman Martina Genis Salas clinched the win the Cavaliers (20-4) on court four, propelling Virginia back to the final for the second straight year.

The 4-seed Cavaliers will take on the 2-seed North Carolina (22-4) in the final on Sunday, April 20 at 10 a.m. The match will air on ACCNX.

Seniors Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard opened the match with a 6-0 victory over No. 17 Irina Balus and Elizabeth Coleman on the top doubles court. Genis Salas and junior Annabelle Xu followed with a 6-4 win on doubles court two, clinching the doubles point and giving the Hoos an early 1-0 lead over the Blue Devils.

Chervinsky added to the UVA lead with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 win over No. 18 Balus on court two.

The Blue Devils got on the board shortly after, picking up a straight set win on court five.

Graduate student Sara Ziodato extended the UVA lead to 3-1 with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No. 60 Liv Hovde on the top singles court.

Duke cut back into the deficit with a straight set win on court three.

On court four, Genis Salas took a narrow first set in a tiebreak 7-6 (3) against No. 67 Eleana Yu. In the second, Genis Salas and Yu traded breaks for most of the set before Genis Salas got the crucial break to go up 4-2. She finished off the match a couple of games later, winning 7-6 (3), 6-3 to book Virginia’s spot in the final.

FROM HEAD COACH SARA O’LEARY

“I’m just incredibly proud of the grit and the determination that our team played with. From the very first point, we talked a lot about just showing Duke that we were going to be the team that was willing to work as hard as possible and do everything it took, no matter what the situation was, and I think we really showed that today. I also was really proud of Martina and Melodie out there at the end. I felt like they played with a lot of courage, and that’s what we have to do to win these big matches. So proud of the way they finished those matches and excited for tomorrow.”

MATCH NOTES

• The Cavaliers won their second straight matchup this season with Duke
• Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard improve to 30-2 on the season in doubles and 13-1 in dual matches
• Martina Genis Salas and Annabelle Xu improve to 16-5 in dual matches and 27-8 overall in doubles
• Chervinsky recorded the highest ranked singles win of her career in a dual match
• Genis Salas picked up her sixth straight singles win (in completed matches)
• Genis Salas logged the highest ranked singles win of her career
• Virginia is looking for its third ACC title. UVA won back-to-back titles in 2014-15
• North Carolina won the ACC title last year, defeating UVA 4-1 in the final. The two teams have met twice this season with the Cavaliers winning both matchups

#7 Virginia 4, #4 Duke 2
Singles competition

1. #20 Sara Ziodato (VA) def. #60 Liv Hovde (DUKE) 6-2, 6-4
2. #33 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. #18 Irina Balus (DUKE) 6-0, 6-2
3. #25 Emma Jackson (DUKE) def. #35 Annabelle Xu (VA) 7-5, 6-3
4. Martina Genis Salas (VA) def. #67 Eleana Yu (DUKE) 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
5. #83 Shavit Kimchi (DUKE) def. Isabelle Lacy (VA) 6-2, 6-1
6. #115 Elizabeth Coleman (DUKE) vs. Melodie Collard (VA) 7-5, 3-6, 1-2, unfinished

Doubles competition

1. #1 Elaine Chervinsky/Melodie Collard (VA) def. #17 Irina Balus/Elizabeth Coleman (DUKE) 6-0
2. #51 Martina Genis Salas/Annabelle Xu (VA) def. Ava Krug/Shavit Kimchi (DUKE) 6-4
3. Emma Jackson/Liv Hovde (DUKE) vs. Meggie Navarro/Sara Ziodato (VA) 5-3, unfinished

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (2,5,1,3,4)
T-2:33