The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 10 Women’s Tennis sweeps Baylor, 4-0
01.26.2024 | Women's Tennis
The Longhorns will host the winner of Florida State and SMU on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT in the ITA Kickoff Weekend regional championship.
Austin – No. 10 Texas Women's Tennis (1-1) claimed a 4-0 sweep against Baylor (0-2) on Friday afternoon at the Texas Tennis Center. With the victory, the Longhorns advance to the ITA Kickoff Weekend regional final for the seventh-consecutive year and will play Florida State on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT at the Texas Tennis Center. The winner of each regional site will advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Feb. 9-12 in Seattle, Wash.
After taking the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2, the Longhorns received singles victories within minutes of each other from senior No. 45 Malaika Rapolu at No. 3, senior No. 106 Charlotte Chavatipon at No. 4 and graduate No. 20 Tanya Sasnouskaya at No. 2.
In doubles, the tandem of junior Sabina Zeynalova and senior Taisiya Pachkaleva finished first by taking down Baylor's Sierra Berry and Liubov Kostenko, 6-2, at No. 1. The Texas duo opened the match with two breaks to earn a 3-0 lead with the second break coming on a deuce point. Baylor responded with a deuce-point break of their own followed by a hold for 3-2, but Zeynalova and Pachkaleva would close the match with another 3-0 run.
Seconds later, Sasnouskaya and Rapolu clinched the doubles point for the Horns with a 6-1 win over Miska Kadleckova and Danielle Tuhten at No. 2. Sasnouskaya and Rapolu used an opening deuce-point break to storm out to a 4-0 lead, before Baylor respond by holding on a deuce point. Texas would answer with their own deuce-point hold for 5-1 and finish the match with a break.
In the remaining match at No. 3, Chavatipon paired with sophomore Vivian Ovrooktsy and trailed Isabella Harvison and Zuzanna Kubacha, 5-2, when play stopped.
In singles, Rapolu was the first to finish, registering a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3 over Kostenko. Rapolu opened the match claiming the first five games including deuce-point wins for 1-0 and 4-0, before Kostenko managed to take the next two, including a deuce-point hold for 5-2. Rapolu closed the first set with a hold which was the first win of another five-game streak with deuce-point breaks for 1-0 and 3-0 in the second set. With Rapolu leading 4-0 in the second, Kostenko held in the fifth game to win her only game of the set before Rapolu's victory and a 2-0 lead for Texas.
Chavatipon was next off the singles courts with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Isabella Harvison on No. 4. Chavatipon broke and held to open the match, 2-0, and after Harvison held in the third game, Chavatipon rattled off nine-straight games with the last two on deuce points. With Chavatipon up 5-0 in the second set, Harvison managed a hold to end the streak, but Chavatipon closed out the match with another deuce-point hold in the next game.
The clinching match for Texas was No. 20 Sasnouskaya's 6-2, 6-1 win over Sierra Berry at No. 1. Similar to Rapolu's match, Sasnouskaya jumped out to an early 5-0 lead that included two deuce points before Berry held and broke at deuce to make the score 5-2. Sasnouskaya responded by breaking back on a deuce point in the following game to take the first set. Berry took the second set's first game on a break, but Sasnouskaya swept the remainder of the match for the overall victory for the Longhorns.
Texas also led two of the remaining three matches when play stopped, including Zeynalova over Kadlecova, 6-5 in the first set at No. 1, and Ovrootsky over Tuhten, 6-4, 3-2, at No. 6. The one match the Longhorns trailed was Pachkaleva against No. 102 Kubacha, 1-6, 3-3, at No. 5.
In the match at No. 1, Kadlecova opened with a 3-0 run, all on deuce points, including two holds and a break. Zeynalova then set out on a 5-0 run with a deuce-point hold for 3-3. Kadlecova came back with a deuce-point hold to stay alive followed by a break to even it, 5-5. Zeynalova then broke back on a deuce point for 6-5 when play halted.
Ovrootsky continued the string of 5-0 runs in her match versus Tuhten. After Tuhten broke in the opening game, Ovrootsky put together her run for a 5-1 lead. Tuhten kept the set going with a deuce-point break to start a 3-0 run and pull within 5-4, but Ovrootsky broke again to take the set. In the second, Tuhten broke first for a 2-1 lead, but Ovrootsky broke back on a deuce-point and held to lead, 3-2.
Pachkaleva held the opening game in her match, but Kubacha posted a 7-0 run to win the first set and post a 1-0 lead in the second. The remainder of that set stayed on serve up to 3-3 when the match was stopped.
#10 Texas 4, Baylor 0
Singles – Order of Finish (3,4,2)
1. Sabina Zeynalova (UT) vs. Miska Kadleckova (BU) 6-5, unfinished
2. #20 Tanya Sasnouskaya (UT) def. Sierra Berry (BU) 6-2, 6-1
3. #45 Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. Liubov Kostenko (BU) 6-2, 6-1
4. #106 Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) def. Isabella Harvison (BU) 6-1, 6-1
5. Taisiya Pachkaleva (UT) vs. #102 Zuzanna Kubacha (BU) 1-6, 3-3, unfinished
6. Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) vs. Danielle Tuhten (BU) 6-4, 3-2, unfinished
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. Sabina Zeynalova/Taisiya Pachkaleva (UT) def. Liubov Kostenko/Sierra Berry (BU) 6-2
2. Tanya Sasnouskaya/Malaika Rapolu (UT) def. Miska Kadleckova/Danielle Tuhten (BU) 6-1
3. Vivian Ovrootsky/Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) vs. Isabella Harvison/Zuzanna Kubacha (BU) 2-5, unfinished
Players Mentioned
