University of North Texas Athletics
University of North Texas
Rice Invite
Kutubidze Defeats No. 70 Ranked Player
9/21/2018 6:19:00 PM | Women's Tennis
HOUSTON — The North Texas tennis team rolled the Alabama Crimson Tide Friday afternoon at the Rice Invite with two singles victories over the Southeastern Conference school.
Senior Tamuna Kutubidze's straight-set, 6-2, 6-3, victory over the No. 70 nationally ranked Andie Daniell of Alabama highlighted the day for the Mean Green in the round robin event.
Junior Alexandra Heczey followed up Kutubidze's win with a straight-set, 6-4, 6-2, victory of her own against an Alabama opponent to lead UNT to a perfect two-for-two day against the Crimson Tide.
Kutubidze and Heczey also paired up in the doubles event to win their lone doubles match, 6-3, over an SMU team.
"A great way to start off the fall for Tamuna and Alexandra," said Mean Green associate head coach Jeff Hammond. "Tamuna had a nice win over the No. 70 ranked player and Alexandra also defeated a Crimson Tide player and played really well. Unfortunate that we've had a couple illnesses today. But we're looking forward to competing hard as a team tomorrow."
Friday was a day of overcoming obstacles for the Mean Green.
Two Mean Green players were pulled midway through their singles matches due to illnesses they've been battling prior to this weekend's event. On top of that, there were three lightning delays in the singles matches and sophomore Nidhi Surapaneni's match was postponed to Saturday morning.
Despite a two hour delay after her first set, Surapaneni made a storming comeback to take a 2-6, 6-1,1-0 lead when her match was stopped for a third time and finally postponed. They will pickup the postponed matches Saturday at 8:00 a.m.
Before being pulled for illness, junior Ivana Babic paired up with classmate Haruka Sasaki for a convincing 6-3 win in doubles over a Stephen F. Austin team.
In California, senior Maria Kononova competed in the consolation bracket of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's Masters Tournament after losing in the opening round. On Friday, Kononova took an early lead but lost to her opponent, 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-2.
RESULTS
SINGLES
Kutubidze def. No. 70 Daniell (Alabama); 6-2, 6-3
Heczey def. Gintrand (Alabama); 6-4, 6-2
Surapaneni v. Perez (Texas St.); 2-6, 6-1, 1-0 (postponed)
Tiboldi (SFA) def. Tranberg; 6-3, 6-1
Mutel (NW St.) def. Sasaki; 6-4, 3-6, 6-1
Floretti (McNeese) def. Babic; 7-5 ret. (ill)
Barkoivic (SHSU) def. Liang; 4-1 ret. (ill)
DOUBLES
Heczey/Kutubidze def. Traxler/Perez-Lopez(SMU); 6-3
Babic/ Sasaki def. Cerdan/Ljubic (SFA); 6-3
Mjos/Pellicer (USF) def. Liang/Surapaneni; 7-6 (9)
ITA MASTERS
Grigoryan (LIU Brooklyn) def. Kononova; 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-2.
Players Mentioned
