The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
ITA Texas Regional Championships
Women's Tennis quartet advances to finals at ITA Texas Regional Championships
10.16.2017 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns land two singles finalists for the first time in the event’s eight-year regional configuration.
FORT WORTH, Texas – A pair of Longhorns will go head-to-head for the singles title, and a Texas doubles tandem will bid for the doubles crown following Monday's results at the ITA Texas Regional Championships.
Texas' 24th-ranked sophomore Bianca Turati dealt North Texas' 41st-ranked Maria Kononova a 6-0, 6-1 defeat in the first singles semifinal and handily advanced to Tuesday's final. Turati will take on a familiar foe in her classmate Petra Granic in the final.
Granic outlasted TCU's 122nd-ranked Alexandra Zenovka, 7-6 (4), 6-3 to set up the first all-Longhorn final at the regional under its current Texas configuration, which dates back to 2009. Turati and Granic earn berths at next month's ITA National Fall Championships with their singles finals berths.
"Once again our ladies performed tremendously," said third-year UT head coach Howard Joffe. "In the singles, Bianca Turati was superb, and the uneven score line is emblematic of how dominant the tennis was. Petra Granic competed as well as I've seen anyone all year. She was the victim of a barrage of winners by the TCU player early on. But, Petra never flinched.
"Her discipline and effort allowed her to erase a large deficit," Joffe continued. "By the end of the match, Petra was playing awfully well and was largely in control of the match. (Alexandra) Zenovka of TCU is an experienced player who played outstanding tennis this week."
Texas senior Dani Wagland teamed with UT freshman Marta Perez-Mur to advance to Tuesday's doubles final. The Texas tandem held off North Texas' 22nd-ranked pair of Tamuna Kutubidze and the aforementioned Kononova 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-5 to set up a Tuesday final against Rice's Lindsey Hodge and Wendy Zhang.
UT freshman Bojana Markovic and Bianca Turati added an 8-3 win in the consolation doubles final over Jessica Hinojosa Gomez and Livia Kraus of Baylor.
"Marta Perez-Mur and Dani Wagland had the most exciting and well-played doubles matches all week," Joffe said. "They hung in and fought to win by the smallest margin. And Bojana Markovic and Bianca Turati showed that our doubles is getting stronger all the time by winning the consolation final fairly emphatically."
The singles and doubles finals are set for Tuesday at 10 a.m. at TCU's Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
ITA Texas Regional Championships
Singles Semifinals
No. 24 Bianca Turati (Texas) def. No. 41 Maria Kononova (North Texas), 6-0, 6-1
No. 39 Petra Granic (Texas) def. No. 122 Alexandra Zenovka (TCU), 7-6 (4), 6-3
Doubles Semifinal
Marta Perez-Mur/Dani Wagland (Texas) def. No. 22 Maria Kononova/Tamuna Kutubidze (North Texas), 6-7 (7), 6-3, 7-5
Consolation Doubles Final
Bojana Markovic/Bianca Turati (Texas) def. Jessica Hinojosa Gomez/Livia Kraus (Baylor), 8-3
Players Mentioned
