Wildcats Outlast Buckeyes to Advance at ITA Indoor Championships

FLUSHING, N.Y. – Following a bye in the first round of the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships, the No. 9 ranked doubles pairing of Mami Adachi and Aldila Sutjiadi outlasted Miho Kowase and Anna Sanford of Ohio State University in the Round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Buckeyes had already knocked off a ranked team in the first round of action, taking down No. 27 Blaga Delic and Sheila Morales of Nevada in 6-1, 6-4 sets.  Ohio State went on to take the first set against Adachi and Sutjiadi, 4-6, before the Wildcats would retaliate with a 6-3 set.  The deciding set was the highest scoring of any of the third sets for the day, as Kentucky won an 11-9 knock-down-drag-out battle over Kowase and Sanford to clinch the match.

The victory marks the first time that a Wildcat duo advanced pas the first day of competition since 2006, when All-Americans Kim Coventry and Joelle Schwenk went on to play in the semifinals of the tournament.

Adachi and Sutjiadi will face Florida’s No. 54 Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock tomorrow afternoon.  The Gators advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-7(5), 10-4 win over Virginia’s No. 13 Julia Elbaba and Skylar Morton.  

Visit UKathletics.com for the most up-to-date information on the Kentucky women’s tennis team and all 22 varsity sports. For additional info, notes, and behind-the-scenes updates, follow the team on Twitter at @UKWomensTennis and on Facebook.

Doubles
Round of 16
#9 Mami Adachi/Aldila Sutjiadi (UK) def. Miho Kowase/Anna Sanford (OSU), 4-6, 6-3, 1-0(9)