Constantinescu, Tsertsvadze Head to Finals

Oct. 24, 2009

NORMAN, Okla.--Sooners will play in both the singles and doubles final Sunday, as they host the 2009 Wilson/ITA Central Region Women's Championships in Norman.

Junior Ana-Maria Constantinescu won in both the singles quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday to advance to the Main Draw finals. Constantinescu also won in Main Draw doubles action with freshman partner Teona Tsertsvadze to move on to the doubles final.

"Going into the tournament, it was hard to imagine that we were going to have this type of success, especially with Maria and Katelyn (Connelly) going down with sickness and injury the day before the tournament started," OU head coach David Mullins said. "To have a singles finalist and a doubles finalist tomorrow is extremely exciting and I'm just looking forward to another great day of tennis."

Constantinescu battled through two three-set matches that spanned more than seven hours to advance to Sunday's final. Constantinescu faced No. 2 seeded Lutfiana Budiharto of Wichita State in the semifinals, and lost the first set. Constantinescu held on to claim the second set and eventually the tiebreaker set to win the match, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

In the quarterfinals, Constantinescu battled Minnesota's Tijana Koprivica in three-hour long, three-set match. Constantinescu won the first set, 6-4, after countless deuces, but dropped the second set, 2-6. Constantinescu led the third set 4-1 at one point, but Koprivica won two straight games to bring the set to 4-3. Constantinescu outlasted Koprivica's rally and clinched the win, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.

This marks the third year in a row that Constantinescu has qualified for at least the Main Draw singles semifinals. She was a singles finalist her freshman year and a semifinalist in last year's tournament.

In the doubles semifinals, Constantinescu and Tsertsvadze continued their domination, defeating Tulsa's Nastia Erofeeva and Ewa Szatkowska, 8-1. The Sooner duo won every match this week by at least five games.

Constantinescu and Tsertsvadze will face No. 1 seeded Anouk Tigu and Claudine Paulson of Arkansas in the doubles final on Sunday.

Sophomore Marie-Pier Huet faced No. 6 seed Madeleine Geibert of Nebraska in the Main Draw quarterfinals. After a back-and-forth first set, Huet breezed through the second set to win, 7-6, 6-2.

Huet faced Arkansas' Kate Lukomskaya in the Main Draw semifinals after Lukomskaya took down the tournament's No. 1 seed, Anouk Tigu, in the quarterfinals. Huet led in the first set but eventually lost, 7-6, 6-3.

Huet won four matches in three days to advance to the singles semifinals, a vast improvement from last year's tournament where she went 0-2.

"Marie-Pier had an outstanding tournament," Mullins said. "One that I knew she was very capable of but had yet to show me.

In consolation singles, Tsertsvadze defeated Sara Lazarevic in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 4-6, 1-0(4). Tsertsvadze forced her semifinals match into a tiebreaker set, but eventually lost, 3-6, 6-1, 1-0(8).

Sophomore Kristina Radan also won in the singles consolation quarterfinals. Radan defeated Delia Damaschin of Wichita State, 6-4, 6-4, and advanced to the consolation after Arkansas' Claudine Paulson defaulted. Radan lost in the consolation final to Tulsa's Alex Kichoutkin, 6-2, 6-1.

The winner of Main Draw doubles and the Main Draw singles finalists will advance on to the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, November 5-8, hosted by the Yale University in New Haven, CT.

For live scoring for tomorrow's matches, click the link below.

Wilson/ITA Central Region Women's Championships-Finals Live Scoring

Saturday's Results

Main Draw Doubles
Semifinals
Constantinescu/Tsertsvadze (OKL) def. Erofeeva/Szatkowska (TUL), 8-1
Paulson/Tigu (ARK) def. Lukomskaya/Sundaram (ARK), 8-2

Main Draw Singles
Quarterfinals
Kate Lukomskaya (ARK) def. Anouk Tigu (ARK), 7-5, 6-2
Marie-Pier Huet (OKL) def. Madeleine Geibert (NEB), 7-6, 6-2
Ana-Maria Constantinescu (OKL) def. Tijana Koprivica (MIN), 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
Lutfiana Budiharto (WSU) def. Jo Ann Karaitiana (TUL), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1

Semifinals
Kate Lukomskaya (ARK) def. Marie-Pier Huet (OKL), 7-6, 6-3
Ana-Maria Constantinescu (OKL) def. Lutfiana Budiharto (WSU), 5-7, 6-4, 6-3

Consolation Singles
Quarterfinals
Alex Kichoutkin (TUL) def. Jie Zeng (TUL), 7-6, 6-2
Teona Tsertsvadze (OKL) def. Sara Lazarevic (KAN), 6-4, 4-6, 10-4
Claudine Paulson (ARK) def. Vishakha Sheoran (SIU), 6-1, 6-2
Kristina Radan (OKL) def. Delia Damaschin (WSU), 6-4, 6-4

Semifinals
Alex Kichoutkin (TUL) def. Teona Tsertsvadze (OKL), 3-6, 6-1, 1-0(8)
Kristina Radan (OKL) def. Claudine Paulson (ARK), w/o

Finals
Alex Kichoutkin (TUL) def. Kristina Radan (OKL), 6-2, 6-1

University of Oklahoma Athletics

Constantinescu, Tsertsvadze Head to Finals

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