Cohen Adds Most Accomplished Recruit in History

NORMAN, Okla. - University of Oklahoma women's tennis coach Audra Cohen announced Monday the signing of Camila Romero to a national letter of intent to compete for the Sooners beginning in the fall of 2017.

With a record of 127-77 in combined singles and doubles in ITF-sanctioned play, Romero comes to Oklahoma as the most accomplished recruit in program history.

"We are extremely excited to sign Camila [Romero] to our Sooner family," Cohen said. "She has established that she is one of best juniors in the world through her consistent competitiveness against top-100 ranked players.

Camila's signing also speaks to the future of the Sooner program and the culture that we are building. She is an incredible player, but more importantly a great person from a wonderful family. Her strong core values make her a tough competitor that we are proud to outfit in Crimson and Cream."

Romero, a native of Guayaquil, Ecuador, has 18 wins over top 100-ranked ITF Juniors players. As of July, Romero is ranked No. 119 in ITF Juniors rankings and is currently the No. 3 player in Ecuador. She reached a career-high 110 ranking in April. This year, Romero played in both Junior Wimbledon and US Open Junior Tennis Championships.

In the Junior Wimbledon singles qualifying round, Romero won her first match, defeating Turkey's No. 83 Cirfu Cengiz, 6-4, 6-4, before being eliminated in the second round. At the US Open, Romero fell in three sets to Chinese Taipei's No. 42 I-Hsuan Cho, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, in the first round.

Partnering with Rafaella Baquerizo, Romero won the Sudoamericano Individual GB1 in Mar del Plata, Argentina in April. The Ecuadorian duo took down No. 106 Fernanda Labrana of Chile and No. 218 Nathalia Wolf Gasparin of Brazil in the final match. She has defeated 14 top-100 opponents in doubles, including Japan's No. 20 Mai Hontama and No. 22 Yuki Naito.

Romero was named "Best Tennis Athlete of 2014" by the Ecuadorian Olympic Committee. She was a member of the 2013, 2014 and 2016 Fed Cup teams for her home country. She was also the No. 1 player in Ecuador in 2013 and 2014 and was No. 2 player under 16 in South America is 2014.

In 2013, Romero was named an honorary member of the Guayaguil Tennis Club when she helped Ecuador reach America's Group 1.

Cohen is excited for Romero's potential at OU.

"In addition to this competitiveness is her room for growth," Cohen said. "She has a lot of weapons on the court and we look forward to helping her develop mentally and physically so she can become a successful Sooner and woman on the WTA Tour."