Chambana Sun

Fighting Illini women's tennis head coach Evan Clark has announced that Cara Mester, a rising sophomore from Cluj-Napoca, Romania, will join the University of Illinois program as a transfer. Mester played her freshman season at Oklahoma.

During her first year with the Sooners in 2024-25, Mester posted a 14-7 record in doubles play, competing exclusively on court one during dual matches. She faced six nationally-ranked opponents and partnered with Shcherbinina to defeat Tulsa's Hutchings and Berlanga, who were ranked 26th nationally. The pair also secured a tiebreak win against No. 14 Cal that contributed to Oklahoma’s 4-1 team victory. By the end of the season, Mester and Shcherbinina were ranked No. 67 in the final ITA doubles rankings after reaching as high as No. 28 earlier in the campaign.

Oklahoma concluded its season ranked tenth in the ITA team rankings with an overall record of 20-7 and an SEC record of 11-4.

Over the summer, Mester returned to Romania where she won a $15K ITF doubles title at W15 Focsani alongside Vanessa Ioana Georgiana Popa Teiusanu. The duo dropped only one set across four matches on clay courts. This marked Mester’s second ITF title following her victory at W15 Bucharest in May 2024.

In junior competition, Mester has claimed two singles titles—including Cairo J1—and nine doubles titles such as Klosters. She has competed in all four Junior Grand Slam tournaments: Australian Open, Roland Garros, US Open, and Wimbledon. Her highest ITF junior ranking was No. 40; she also achieved career-high WTA rankings of No. 1060 in singles and No. 1422 in doubles.

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