No. 20-ranked Kansas tennis opened the Big 12 Championship with a 4-1 win in the quarterfinals over TCU at the Jayhawk Tennis Center at Rock Chalk Park Friday afternoon.
At No. 3 doubles, Maria Toran Ribes and Malkia Ngounoue smashed their way past Mercedes Aristegui and Kate Paulus, 6-1. Seniors Janet Koch and Nina Khmelnitckaia, ranked No. 3 in the nation in doubles, then stormed past TCU’s Ellie Douglas and Aleksa Cveticanin at No. 1 doubles, 6-3, giving Kansas the doubles point.
The match between KU’s No. 73-ranked doubles team of Anastasia Rychagova and Sonia Smagina and the Horned Frogs’ Chloe Hule and Stevie Kennedy went unfinished after Kansas claimed the doubles point.
In singles, Khmelnitckaia bested Hule at No. 5 singles, 6-1, 6-3, giving KU a 2-0 lead. Koch, ranked No. 104 in the nation, fell to Cveticanin, 6-4, 6-4, bringing the Horned Frogs within a point at 2-1.
At No. 6 singles, Toran Ribes defeated Kennedy, 7-5, 6-4, bringing the Jayhawks one point away from the win. Smagina then triumphed over Paulus at No. 4 singles, 7-6(5), 6-3, giving Kansas the victory.
The No. 3-seeded Jayhawks will face off against No. 2-seeded, and No. 12 in the nation, Oklahoma State, at 3 p.m Saturday.
