ATLANTA, Ga. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF women’s tennis team opened up the 2018 ITA Southeast Regional Championship on Friday with a solid start. Rebeka Stolmar and Natalia Serrano led the Knights, battling their way into the round of 16.
Stolmar, the No. 10 seed and highest ranked Knight, cruised in her opening match against South Florida’s Vanja Klaric, 6-0, 6-1. The reigning American Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year rolled in her second round contest against Ariana Rahmanparast of Florida State, 6-0, 6-2. The sophomore will face Kenya Jones, the No. 2 seed, from Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Serrano needed a pair of tiebreaks to beat the No. 16-seeded Valeriya Deminova from Georgia Tech, 7-6(5), 7-6(5). The Spanish international edged Arianne De Winter from Georgia Southern, 6-3, 6-1, to set up a round of 16 battle against No. 5 seed Ida Jariskog from Florida.
The No. 14 seed Ksenia Kuznetsova downed FGCU’s Maja Ornberg, 6-1, 0-6, 6-3, in the first round, but fell to Ana Dominguez from South Florida in the second round 6-4, 6-1. The sophomore will battle Stetson’s Danel Ashirova in the consolation draw on Saturday.
As the No. 13 seed, Domenika Turkovic needed three sets to best Lucia Montano from North Florida, 5-7, 6-4, 6-0. Ana Madcur from Miami then took down Turkovic in the second round, 6-4, 6-3. The rookie will go up against Marie Mottet of Mercer in the consolation draw.
After reaching the main draw through the qualifying rounds, Valentina Martin bested No. 8 seed Morgan Coppoc over three sets, 0-6, 6-4, 6-4. The freshmen was on the wrong end of a 7-5, 6-2 decision in the second round to Damira Muminovic from Georgia State. For her first consolation match, Martin will play Florida’s Katie Kubicz.
Junior Sara Culbertson will face Annette Goulak from Georgia in the consolation draw on Saturday, after dropping her first round contest to Mercer’s Alara Hollyfield, 6-4, 6-4.
In the doubles draw, Serrano and Stolmar led the way with an opening rown win against FGCU’s Sofia Perez and Sara Kelly. The veteran duo will meet Gonzalez and Coppoc from Miami, the No. 5 seed, in the round of 16.
Kuznetsova and Turkovic gave the top-seeded Petra Hule and Ana Oparenovic from Florida State all they could handle in an 8-6 match. The tandem will play the winner of Perez and Kelly from FGCU or Mercer’s Celine Schepers and Marie Mottet in the consolation draw.
Culbertson and Martin will see Daneila Ramirez and Andreaea Stanescu from Georgia State in the first round of the consolation draw, after falling to Georgia’s Alee Clayton and Vivian Wolff.
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