Wong, Fung Pick Up Ranked Wins At The Husky Invite

Saturday, October 14

Seattle, WA

2:15 PM

University of Washington

Husky Invite

October 14, 2017 | Women's Tennis

SEATTLE – Vanessa Wong and Stacey Fung picked up big singles wins today as Washington women's tennis had another solid day at the Husky Invite on Saturday in the Nordstrom Tennis Center.

"Today went well," Washington head coach Robin Stephenson said. "I think we came out flat in doubles. We really wanted to focus on playing with higher energy, and I think we need to do better in that area. Arkansas is a really good team in singles, really well coached and they've done really well in the past. Some of our matches were really high level, which was good to see."

On the whole, the Huskies went 5-3 in both singles and doubles matches. After winning the two doubles matches against the Pilots, the Dawgs split their six singles matches, winning three and losing three.

Singles saw some competitive matches for the Huskies as they matched up against the Arkansas Razorbacks. This round was highlighted by the matchup between No. 100 and a freshman. Wong, a freshman from Ontario, Canada, battled with No. 100 Giulia Pairone. After losing the first set 6-1, Wong fought back to take the second set, 6-1. The third set was tighter. Wong took the early advantage, but Pairone kept it close. In the end, Wong was able to finish strong and take the third set, 6-3.

"I thought Vanessa in the last match did a really great job," Stephenson said. "She had a tough first set, but she showed a lot of maturity and poise and settled in and found a way to win that match, which I was really pleased to see this early on. Vanessa is smart, she never panics, she takes her time and you can tell she thinks through things. I think she showed a lot of toughness in key moments to be able to close that match out. To see that from a freshman is a good sign."

In a match between ranked players, No. 18 Fung and No. 36 Ana Oparenovic played each other tough. Fung was able to win in two competitive sets, 6-4, 6-3.

"I was a bit nervous at the beginning, but then I got things rolling and built up momentum," Fung said. "It was a good match, close all the way through, which is always exciting."

After two days of competition, Kenadi Hance is still undefeated in both doubles and singles after winning her singles match against Arkansas' Jackie Carr in two sets, 6-3, 6-3.

Slavica, Angela Li and Alexis Prokopuik lost their matches today. Slavica was swept, 6-0, 6-0, while Li lost in two sets as well, 6-0, 6-1. In a close match, Prokopuik lost a tight first set with a 7-5 score, then fell 6-4 in the second set.

In doubles, Washington faced off against two duos from Portland. Like on the first day, in doubles the pairings played just one set rather than a whole match. Fung and Wong took down their opponents with a 6-2 set win. Kenadi Hance teamed up with Lana Slavica to win their set as well, 6-2.

Sunday is the last day of the Husky Invite. The teams will only play singles on the third day of competition, with players from Arkansas and Portland playing each other at 9:30 a.m. PT and Washington and Oregon facing off at 12:30 p.m. PT.

"The thing I want to see from them the most is to see how they deal with adversity, how they are competing," Stephenson said. "Tomorrow will be another tough day. Oregon is a tough team and we always have battles with them."

For updates, follow along on Washington's Twitter account, @UW_Wtennis.

RESULTS

Doubles
Fung/Wong (UW) def. Dimitrova/Ramalle (UP) 6-2
Hance/Slavica (UW) def. Oberg/Soares (UP) 6-2

Singles
Tatum Rice (ARK) def. Lana Slavica (UW) 6-0, 6-0
No. 18 Stacey Fung (UW) def. No. 36 Ana Oparenovic (ARK) 6-4, 6-3
Vanessa Wong (UW) def. No. 100 Giulia Pairone (ARK) 1-6, 6-1, 6-3
Agne Cepelyte (ARK) def. Angela Li (UW) 6-0, 6-1
Natsuho Arakawa (ARK) v. Alexis Prokopuik (UW) 7-5, 6-4
Kenadi Hance (UW) def. Jackie Carr (ARK) 6-3, 6-3