URBANA, Ill. – Fighting Illini women's tennis closed its 2025-26 home slate with a 4-0 sweep of Bradley on Tuesday from the Atkins Tennis Center. No. 58 Illinois secured the doubles point followed by singles wins by Kimiko Cooper, Tess Bucher, and Cara Mester.
Illinois improved to 10-12 overall with the win, 5-6 in non-conference matches, and 7-8 when playing at the Atkins Tennis Center this season. Bradley moved to 9-11 in 2026 with Tuesday's result. The Fighting Illini now lead the all-time series against the Braves, 12-0.
The Fighting Illini won the doubles point over the Braves, marking the eighth doubles point of the season for Illinois and second straight.
McKenna Schaefbauer and Ariel Madatali were the first off the doubles courts with a 6-2 win at No. 2. The duo is now 3-3 when teaming up.Â
In their first match back as a ranked doubles duo, No. 65 Tess Bucher and Alice Xu breezed to a 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles. The Illini tandem is now 13-12 when working together this season.
On the singles courts, Cara Mester secured a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 5 singles to push Illinois' lead out to 2-0. Mester improved to 15-5 overall on the singles courts with the victory.Â
Tess Bucher was next off the courts with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles, giving the Orange and Blue a 3-0 advantage. The sophomore is now 6-13 on the season with Tuesday's win marking her fifth in dual play.
Playing at No. 1 singles for her first time at Illinois, freshman Kimiko Cooper secured the victory for the Fighting Illini. She has clinched the last two wins for the Orange and Blue. Cooper won a 6-2, 6-2 decision on the top court to improve to 8-10 in dual play this season.
Action at No. 2, 3, and 6 would go unfinished.
NEXT UP
With the home slate concluded, Illinois will wrap up regular season play on the road at Rutgers (April 17) and Maryland (April 19) this weekend.
#58 ILLINOIS (10-12, 5-6 B1G) 4, BRADLEY (9-11, 4-2 MVC) 0
Doubles:
1 - No. 65 Tess Bucher/Alice Xu (ILL) def. Ivanovskaia/Hsieh (BU) - 6-1
2 - McKenna Schaefbauer/Ariel Madatali (ILL) def. Tsai/Belogliadova (BU) - 6-2
3 - Cara Mester/Lizzie Isyanov (ILL) vs. Pukhina/Sharp (BU) - 4-4, unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1
Singles:Â
1 - Kimiko Cooper (ILL) vs. Valeriia Ivanovskaia (BU) - 6-2, 6-2
2 - Alice Xu (ILL) vs. Ruby Tseng (BU) - 6-4, 3-0, unfinished
3 - Ariel Madatali (ILL) vs. Mariia Pukhina (BU) - 6-3, 5-2 unfinished
4 - Tess Bucher (ILL) vs. Anna Belogliadova (BU) - 6-1, 6-3Â
5 - Cara Mester (ILL) vs. Ann Hsieh (BU) - 6-0, 6-1
6 - Lizzie Isyanov (ILL) vs. Compassion Tsai (BU) - 6-0, 5-1, unfinished
Order of finish: 5, 4, 1
Duration: 1:46
Attendance: 43
Played indoors
