Eszter Meri, a sophomore for the Texas Longhorns women’s tennis team, secured the gold medal in women’s singles at the 2025 Rhine-Ruhr FISU World university Games in Essen, Germany, on July 26.
Meri’s victory marks a significant milestone, as she is the first Slovakian and the first Longhorn athlete to achieve a gold medal at these prestigious games. She triumphed over Russian competitor Alevtina Ibragimova, who holds a WTA ranking of No. 210 and a career-high of No. 196.
The championship match was a hard-fought contest. Meri established an early lead in the first set, breaking Ibragimova’s serve to go up 4-2 before closing out the set 6-3.Ibragimova responded strongly in the second set, building leads of 2-0 and 5-1 to win the set 6-1. The decisive third set saw Ibragimova take an initial break, but Meri demonstrated resilience, winning consecutive breaks to lead 4-2. Despite a brief setback
