ORLANDO, Fla. -- Furman's Katarina Kozarov defeated Michaela Gordon of Stanford, 6-0, 6-2, Sunday in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Singles Championship at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

A senior from Novi Sad, Serbia, Kozarov, the only seeded player not from a Power 5 school, is seeded among the top 16 and will face Georgia's Meg Kowalski Monday at 10 a.m. in the round of 32. 

"It was great to have so many of my teammates here to support me for such a big match," said Kozarov.  "I felt really good about my preparation before the tournament, and I am really happy with how my match went today.  Ready for another battle tomorrow!"

Kozarov, who ranks 16th nationally, is making her second individual singles championship appearance after also earning the Southern Conference's automatic bid in 2019.  A three-time SoCon Player of the Year, Kozarov became just the second All-American in the history of the Paladin program in 2020 and has ranked as high as seventh nationally in singles during the 2021 season.  A first team all-conference selection for both singles and doubles, Kozarov notched a 23-1 record at flight one singles with eight victories over ranked opponents and was a perfect 7-0 in league play.  

Gordon, a senior from Saratoga, Calif., entered Sunday's match ranked 34th nationally after putting together a 10-7 singles dual record in the top spot for Stanford this spring.  A four-time All-American, she was honored as the ITA National Rookie of the Year in 2018.  As a team, Stanford has won 20 of the possible 38 NCAA women's tennis championships.  

A junior from Chicago, Ill., Kowalski is ranked 20th after recording a 12-2 dual match record at flight three for Georgia this spring.  She garnered first team All-SEC honors and helped the Bulldogs to both a regular season and tournament title in 2021.

Junior Julia Adams, who hails from Knoxville, Tenn., will team up with Kozarov in the national doubles championship beginning Monday at 4:30 p.m.  The Furman duo will face 11th-ranked Ally Bojczuk and Julia Lilien of Notre Dame in the first round.

The Paladin doubles team, which also earned the league's automatic bid and currently ranks 40th nationally, is one of 32 doubles teams which will compete for the title.  Adams and Kozarov, who ranked as high as 16th nationally during the 2021 season, tallied a 20-3 record at flight one, including a 5-1 SoCon mark.  

All matches shall be the best-of-three sets.  No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches.  In doubles, a 10-point match tiebreaker will be played in lieu of a third set.

Live scoring and streaming of the championship will be available at https://www.furmanpaladins.com.