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LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky women’s tennis opened 2025 with its 10th-straight season-opening win in a doubleheader at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex by defeating East Tennessee State 6-1 and Murray State 6-1.
The doubleheader began with a win over ETSU, which was highlighted by the strong and competitive play of Zoe Hammond. Hammond worked with senior Ellie Eades on doubles court two for a win, while Lizzy Stevens and freshman Julia Zhu also won their first spring match as doubles partners in convincing fashion, 6-1, to start of the day with a point.
Against ETSU in singles, Stevens came away with a 6-3, 6-3 win. Hammond continued her day by playing on court one for singles and battled with ETSU’s Daniela Rivera, taking the first set 6-4, dropping the second 1-6, and dominating the decisive third set 6-1. On court two Zhu soared to a win over Jana Rovira 6-2, 7-5. Stevens came away with a 6-3, 6-3 win and that singles wi,n which was the third singles win for UK on the afternoon, clinched the match. After deciding to play all six singles matches out, Tess Bucher beat Ralitsa Alexandrova 7-6 (5), 7-6 (0) and freshman Asuncion Jadue lost a close match tiebreak to Ksenija Rage 2-6, 6-3, 10-12.
Back on the court for the second match of the day versus Murray State, the Wildcats continued to dominate at the Boone Tennis Complex. Staying with the same double’s lineup, the doubles point was won by Kentucky, once again, two courts to one. Stevens and Zhu beat a Murray State pair 6-2 and Jadue and Bucher fell as eyes pointed towards the second court. On court two, with the doubles point in the balance, Eades and Hammond battled with Bruna Melato and Valeria Chaikovskaia to come up with a 7-5 win in a close matchup.
In the singles matchup versus Murray State, the Wildcats separated themselves with strong serving and scrapy defensive play. Stevens finished her match first against Melato winning 6-2, 6-2. Zhu followed by winning an impressive 6-0, 6-0 matchup, concluding the freshman’s great play on the day. Ellie Myers jumped into the day’s action on court four and won 6-2, 6-3 and clinched the second match for the Wildcats. Playing out all matches again, Jadue was victorious in a three-set battle 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 and Bucher finished the day dropping a match 6-3, 6-7 against Yuna Kadowaki. This ultimately resulted in a match win for Kentucky, 6-1, once again as the Wildcats move to 2-0 on the season.
Following the spring opener Saturday, the Wildcats will now set their sights on next weekend at Iowa on Friday, Jan. 24. Kentucky returns home Sunday, Jan. 26 versus Purdue.
For the latest on UK Women’s Tennis, follow @UKWomensTennis on Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
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