ATHENS, Ga. (UCFKnights.com) – With a pair of wins on Friday, UCF's Monica Matias and Ksenia Kuznetsova reached the Round of 16 in the singles main draw of the ITA Southeast Regional, hosted by Georgia.
Playing as the No. 13 seed, Kuznetsova cruised in both matches. The freshman downed Georgia Tech's Nadia Gizdova 6-3, 6-3, before beating Ana Roman Dominguez from USF, 6-0, 6-4. The Russian international will face the No. 8 seeded Marta Gonzalez of Georgia on Saturday.
Matias was perfect in her opening round match against Alexandra Mercado from Kennesaw State, 6-0, 6-0. She needed a third set in the afternoon to defeat No. 16 seeded Maryna Veksler from FIU. Matias will play the No. 5 seed Austin Brooke from Florida in the Round of 16.
After punching her ticket to the main draw yesterday, Natalia Serrano moved into the second round with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 win over FIU's Nerma Caluk. She fell in her afternoon matchup to Georgia Tech's No. 11 seed Ida Jarlskog.
Maria Martinez faced a tough challenge in her first-round contest against No. 1 seed Estela Perez-Somarriba from Miami, dropping the contest 6-3, 6-2. In the consolation draw on Saturday, Martinez will battle Vivian Wolff from Georgia.
Emilia Granstrom will go up against Ariana Rahmanparast from Florida State in the consolation draw on Saturday, after falling to Ulyana Skirokova from Miami in the main draw first round. Silvia Bordes will also look to bounce back on in the consolation draw against FIU's Mina Markovic, following a 6-2, 7-6(8) defeat to No. 9 seed Kenya Jones from Georgia Tech.
The main doubles draw saw two teams of Knights reach the Round of 16.
Kuznetsova and Martinez did not miss a beat in their 8-0 sweep of FAU's Natalia Boltinskaya and Kristen Thoms. The rookie duo will face the No. 1 seed of Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones from Georgia on Saturday.
Matias and Serrano downed the Georgia Southern pairing of Emilia Bujan and Ella Monsey, 8-3, to set up a showdown with Florida's No. 3 seeded team of Brooke Austin and Katie Kubicz.
Bordes and Granstrom will face Aylen Hubeaut and Haleigh Porter from Florida A&M in the consolation draw on Saturday, after falling to the No. 2 pairing of Nandini Das and Ariana Rahmanparast from Florida State.
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