No. 3 women’s tennis defeats No. 12 Florida, advances to SEC Championship semifinals

No. 3 women’s tennis defeats No. 12 Florida, advances to SEC Championship semifinalsNo. 3 women’s tennis defeats No. 12 Florida, advances to SEC Championship semifinals
Oklahoma Athletics

NORMAN, Okla. – No. 3 Auburn women’s tennis advanced to the semifinal round of the SEC championship after defeating No. 12 Florida 4-1 behind strong singles play Friday at the Headington Family Tennis Center in Norman, Oklahoma. The Tigers came back from dropping the doubles point by claiming singles wins from DJ Bennett, Ekaterina Khairutdinova, Merna Refaat and Ava Esposito.

“Florida came and played a really good match,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said after the win. “They’re obviously a good team and ranked No. 12 in the country for a reason. They came out excited, and having a match under their belt made them a bit more comfortable. They played a good doubles point, and I don’t think we were that sharp on serve and return. We had to battle back, and it’s only the second time we’ve had to deal with that.

“We only won three first sets, and we turned a bunch of matches. Angie (Okutoyi) was only a point away, Ashton (Bowers) was up a break in the third and we could have easily won all six singles. That’s what I told them after doubles, that we were the favorite on every court. In the last 30 or 40 minutes, the momentum really switched our way with DJ (Bennett) and Katya (Khairutdinova) playing very clean matches and getting off the court. The girls on the backside really rose to the occasion and played awesome down the stretch.”

In doubles, Bowers and Khairutdinova continued their strong doubles play, earning a 6-2 win for their 25th victory as a doubles pair this year. Florida then picked up a victory at the No. 2 position to leave the point to be decided on the top doubles court. At the No. 1 position, Florida’s Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova defeated Auburn’s Bennett and Esposito 6-4 to clinch the doubles point.

To begin singles, Bennett, Khairutdinova and Esposito each had opening-set wins.

Bennett won a couple games straight to close out a 6-3 set win over Florida’s India Houghton. Bennett then won a break to take a 3-1 lead in the second set before closing it out to win the match 6-3, 6-3 to tie the match at 1-1.

Khairutdinova and Valery Gynina went back and forth in their opening set that was eventually sent to a tiebreak. The Auburn senior then dominated the tiebreak, winning it 7-0 to earn the opening set. Khairutdinova kept that momentum in the second set, winning five consecutive games before closing out the match 7-6 (0), 6-1 to give Auburn a 2-1 lead. The win improved her dual-match singles record to 15-5 this season.

After Khairutdinova’s win, Auburn needed two more points from the remaining four matches. Bowers, Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat each forced decisive third sets in their respective matches, while the match at the No. 6 singles position also went to a third set.

Refaat bounced back from a 1-6 opening-set loss to Brooke Black by closing out the second set with three straight games to force a third. The Auburn sophomore pulled away late in the third set to claim a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 win at the No. 4 position and give the Tigers a 3-1 advantage. Refaat is now 15-2 in dual matches this season.

At the No. 6 position, Esposito won three straight games in her opening set over Nikola Daubnerova to take the set 6-3. Daubnerova responded with a 6-2 win in the second set to force a third. In the third set, Esposito won a late break to take a 5-2 lead, then held in the next game to complete a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 win and clinch the team victory for the Tigers.

The win advances Auburn to its fourth SEC championship semifinal appearance in program history and its second in as many seasons. The Tigers reached 30 wins on the season with Friday’s victory and now hold a 30-3 overall record. The team has also won each of its last four matches.

“Every win in this tournament is a big win,” continued Szabo. “I’m very pleased with how we finished and hopefully if we can keep that level that we finished with tomorrow, we’ll be in really good shape. It will be a tough match, so we’re excited and happy to keep playing.”

The Tigers will face No. 2 Texas A&M at noon CT at the Headington Family Tennis Center for a chance to punch their ticket to the event’s finals. The Aggies narrowly defeated the Tigers in last year’s SEC championship semifinals 4-3. The match will be streamed on SEC Network+ and live scoring will be available at SoonerSports.com.

 

#3 Auburn 4, #12 Florida 1

Singles Results:

  1. #23 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. #44 India Houghton (FLA) 6-3, 6-3
  2. #28 E. Khairutdinova (AUB) def. #51 Valery Gynina (FLA) 7-6 (0), 6-1
  3. #70 Angella Okutoyi (AUB) vs. #65 Gabia Paskauskas (FLA) 2-6, 6-2, 5-2, unfinished
  4. Merna Refaat (AUB) def. Brooke Black (FLA) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4
  5. #55 Ashton Bowers (AUB) vs. #103 Lucie Pawlak (FLA) 6-7 (3), 7-5, 1-0, unfinished
  6. #64 Ava Esposito (AUB) def. Nikola Daubnerova (FLA) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3

Doubles Results:

  1. #19 Xinyi Nong/Nikola Daubnerova (FLA) def. #2 DJ Bennett/Ava Esposito (AUB) 6-4
  2. #73 Valery Gynina/Brooke Black (FLA) def. #18 Angella Okutoyi/Merna Refaat (AUB) 6-3
  3. Ashton Bowers/E. Khairutdinova (AUB) def. India Houghton/Lucie Pawlak (FLA) 6-2

 

Time of match: 3:02 Order of finish: Doubles: 3,2,1; Singles: 1,2,4,6 Official: Andrew Rogers