PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - Top-seeded Makenna Jones and junior classmate Alexa Graham from the University of North Carolina earned three-set victories on Thursday in the opening round of the singles main draw at the 2018 Riviera ITA Women's All-American Championships.
Jones drew 2017-18 ITA Doubles All-American and former US Open Junior doubles champion Jada Hart, a redshirt UCLA junior, who had the decided home-court advantage playing on the lower Riviera Country Club courts located just five miles down Sunset Blvd. from the Bruins campus in Westwood.
The Greenville, South Carolina, resident Jones, a junior who led the Tar Heels to the 2018 ITA Division I National Women's Indoor Team Championship, came out strong posting a 6-0 first set, before Hart rallied to capture the second set 6-4, with Jones closing it out by the same 6-4 score to advance to the Round of 16 Friday at the event being held at the same location in Pacific Palisades for the 34th consecutive year.