Razorbacks advance at Central Region Champ.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Members of the Arkansas women’s tennis team advanced in both singles and doubles Thursday as play began in the main draw of the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Region Championships at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Okla. The Hogs complied an impressive 11-4 record overall.
Anouk Tigu, Emily Carbone and Kate Lukomskaya each won two singles matches to advance to Friday’s Round of 16. The doubles tandems of Tigu and Claudine Paulson, Lukomskaya and Kelsey Sundaram will play in the doubles Round of 16 on Friday alongside teammates Valentina Starkova and Carbone.
“Today was a very strong first day of competition,” Arkansas coach Michael Hegarty said. “We started the tournament strong and put ourselves in position to have some great things happen here.”
In singles play, Tigu picked up wins against Victoria Khanevskaya of Kansas 6-2, 6-1 and Sasha Belova of Oklahoma State 7-5, 7-5. Lukomskaya defeated Minnesota’s Jackie Sperling 6-3, 6-3 in the first round before recording a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 come-from-behind victory over Tulsa’s Anastasia Erofeeva. Sophomore Emily Carbone beat Jenny Nalepa from St. Louis 6-0, 6-1 and Jamie Meria by a 6-0, 6-1 score.
Freshman Kelsey Sundaram won her first-round match with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 win over Tulsa’s Rebecca Row before falling in the second round to Ana-Maria Constantinescu of Oklahoma 6-1, 6-2. Fellow newcomer Valentina Starkova also advanced to the Round of 32 with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Melanie Delsart of Southern Illinois followed by a tough loss 6-2, 6-3 at the hands of Kansas State’s Antea Huljev.
Claudine Paulson and Annemijn Koenen both dropped their first matches of the day. Paulson fell 6-3, 7-5 to Oklahoma State’s Nataliya Shatkovskaya while Koenen lost to Alessandra Ferrazzi from Minnesota 6-0, 6-1.
All three Arkansas doubles pairs received byes into the second round of play. Paulson and Tigu defeated the Oklahoma pair of Tara Eckel and Marie-Pier Huet 8-2 while Carbone and Starkova earned an 8-2 victory over Huljev and Nina Sertic from KSU. Lumkomskaya and Sundaram finished off the Razorbacks 3-0 day in doubles, beating Saint Louis’ Mia Elmore and Jenny Nalepa 8-4.
Friday’s action is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Central time with the two rounds of doubles followed by the singles Round of 16 at its completion.
Results following Friday’s action can be found immediately at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
2009 Wilson/ITA Central Region Women’s Championships
Thursday Results
Doubles
Paulson/Tigu (ARK) def. Eckel/Huet (OKL), 8-2
Lukomskaya/Sundaram (ARK) def. Elmore, M./Nalepa (SLU), 8-4
Carbone/Starkova (ARK) def. Huljev/Sertic (KSU), 8-2
Main Draw Singles
First Round
AnoukTigu (ARK) def. Victoria Khanevskaya (KAN), 6-2, 6-1
Alessandra Ferrazzi (MIN) def. Annemijn Koenen (ARK), 6-0, 6-1
Kate Lukomskaya (ARK) def. Jackie Sperling (MIN), 6-3, 6-3
ValentinaStarkova (ARK) def. Melanie Delsart (SIU), 6-3, 6-4
NataliyaShatkovskaya (OSU) def. Claudine Paulson (ARK), 6-3, 7-6(3)
Emily Carbone (ARK) def. Jenny Nalepa (SLU), 6-0, 6-1
Kelsey Sundaram (ARK) def. Rebecca Row (TUL), 5-7, 6-4, 7-5
Second Round
AnoukTigu (ARK) def. Oleksandra Belova (OSU), 7-6, 7-5
Kate Lukomskaya (ARK) def. Nastia Erofeeva (TUL), 4-6, 6-1, 6-2
AnteaHuljev (KSU) def. Valentina Starkova (ARK), 6-2, 6-3
Emily Carbone (ARK) def. Jamie Mera (MIZ), 6-0, 6-1
Ana-Maria Constantinescu (OKL) def. Kelsey Sundaram (ARK), 6-1, 6-2
