Sara Daavettila

Sara Daavettila (born December 17, 1997) is an American professional tennis player. She has a career-high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) singles ranking of and doubles ranking of , both achieved in October 2023.

Born in Michigan to a former college player, she had a successful junior career. She went undefeated in two seasons of high school tennis. She played five years of college tennis for the North Carolina Tar Heels, reaching a peak NCAA singles ranking of . She reached at least the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships three times. Since turning professional she has played on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, where she has won one singles title and one doubles title.

Early life and junior career

Daavettila grew up in Williamston, Michigan, the oldest of six siblings. She started playing tennis at age three or four. Her mother, who played college tennis at Western Michigan University, coached her from a young age. She performed well at United States Tennis Association (USTA) events as a junior, winning ten national titles and more than twenty USTA Midwest titles.

Homeschooled until tenth grade, Daavettila enrolled in Williamston High School, in Division 3 of the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA), for her sophomore year in 2013–14. She said she did so partly to have a chance to play her friend, senior Alexandria Najarian of Cranbrook Kingswood, before she left for college at the University of Michigan. Daavettila went undefeated in seventeen matches on her way to the state championship final, where she faced Najarian, the three-time defending champion. Daavettila won , handing Najarian the only defeat of her high school career.

Daavettila played again for the Williamston Hornets in 2014–15. Having not lost a set as a sophomore, she did not lose a game her entire junior season in twenty-four matches, becoming the first high school player to do so, and defended her state championship. She returned to homeschooling her senior year to have more time for USTA competitions. She verbally committed to the University of North Carolina by early 2015 and signed a letter of intent in November 2015. She was considered the top recruit of the class of 2016.

College career

Daavettila began playing for the North Carolina Tar Heels as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)'s top-ranked incoming freshman of 2016–17. She won the ITA Carolina Regionals singles title in the fall of 2016. She played mostly at singles in the regular season, going 20–7 to help North Carolina win the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championship, and was named ACC Freshman of the Year. She reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships in singles, finishing the season ranked in singles with an overall record of 43–11.

Daavettila went 29–12 in singles in her sophomore season in 2017–18. She helped North Carolina win the ITA Team Indoor Championship, being named most outstanding player, and defend the ACC Championship. She and teammate Alle Sanford reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championships in doubles, having entering the event as an alternate. North Carolina again defended the ACC Championship in her junior season in 2018–19 and reached the semifinals of the NCAA Championships as a team. Daavettila again won the ITA Carolina Regionals singles title and made the quarterfinals of the NCAA singles tournament, finishing the year with a singles record of 32–8 and ranked at .

Daavettila won the ITA National Fall Championships singles title in the fall of 2019–20, beating Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami in the semifinals and Anna Turati of Texas in the final. She went 23–2 in singles and 13–5 in doubles to rank in singles and in doubles with Alexa Graham at the end of the pandemic-shortened season. This season and next season, she was again named most outstanding player at the ITA Team Indoor Championships, helping North Carolina win consecutive indoor titles in 2020 and 2021. She reached the singles ranking in April 2021 as she went 22–2 in her final season. North Carolina, on a 48-match winning streak, won the ACC Championship but were upset in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships, where Daavettila made the NCAA singles semifinals. Her college career ended ranked in singles and doubles, and she received the ACC Player of the Year Award and the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top college tennis player. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in communication studies in May 2021.

Professional career

Daavettila debuted on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Women's World Tennis Tour in 2013 at age 15. She was selected to the USTA Collegiate Summer Team in mid-2021. She reached her first ITF doubles final at the W15 tournament in San Diego, California, in June 2022, partnering former North Carolina teammate Makenna Jones, and reached her first ITF singles final at the W15 event in Champaign, Illinois, in November 2022. She won her first professional titles at the next year's W15 event in San Diego in June 2023, where she won in singles and doubles with Katherine Hui.

References

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Living people
1997 births
American female tennis players
Tennis players from Michigan
Sportspeople from Ingham County, Michigan
North Carolina Tar Heels women's tennis players