Danilina Marches into NCAA Singles Round of 16

Thursday, May 24

Winston-Salem, NC

All Day

Florida Gators

NCAA Singles & Doubles, Rnd 32

Anna Danilina won a tough three-setter to advance.

Danilina Marches into NCAA Singles Round of 16

Thursday, May 24, 2018 | Women's Tennis

MATCH POINT - Danilina!NCAA Singles Draw NCAA Doubles Draw

By reaching the NCAA round of 16, Danilina automatically earns All-America status.

By: Kathy Cafazzo

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Gator senior Anna Danilina won a grueling three-setter on Thursday and advanced to the round of 16 at the NCAA Singles Championships played at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.

Danilina will play Duke's 28th-ranked Kelly Chen on Friday at 11 a.m. Chen upset the event's No. 2 seed Makenna Jones of North Carolina in her second round match.

Danilina overcame a rough opening set of her second round match against Texas' 30th-ranked Anna Turati and captured the 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory to advance. The final two sets were filled with long points and Danilina seemed to have the upper hand at the end those.

The Gator senior took a 2-0 lead in the second, lost her serve, then won the next two games for a 4-1 lead. After Turati held, Danilina turned away a pair of break points for a 5-2 lead and capitalized on her second set point to force a third.

Four of the final five games in the deciding set were breaks and Danilina claimed three of those, as she won the final three games of the third set to earn the 96th singles win of her career.

Not as Fortunate
Other Gators playing matches on Thursday that went the distance included senior Josie Kuhlman and the doubles team of Danilina and freshman Victoria Emma.

Kuhlman faced Stanford's Emily Arbuthnott and the two matched each other nearly game-for-game, with the Cardinal eventually prevailing, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. With the match entering the third set, both competitors opened with service breaks before Arbuthnott held and raced out to a 4-1 lead. Kuhlman held at love and lost just one point in the next game for another break and head to the baseline with the serve, down 4-3 and a chance to get the match back even. Arbuthnott, however, earned the break for the 5-3 lead. She won the first three points and held quadruple match-point. Kuhlman fought off the first three and got to duce, but wasn't able to turn away a fourth for the break and capped her terrific collegiate career with a 116-39 record.

On the doubles court, Danilina and Emma lost a heartbreaker to Oklahoma State's 14th-ranked Vladica Babic and Sofia Blanco, 4-6, 6-4, 10-8, in the first round. The third set of the championships was played as a 10-point set, where the Cowgirl pair jumped out to a 4-1 lead. The Gators tied it up at 4-all and took the lead on the next point. The final frame was tied at 5-all and 6-all and the Gators were unable to take another lead.

Quotes from the Court
Associate Head Coach Dave Balogh
"Today might have been one of Anna's best matches at Florida. After she got down early, she found a way to turn things around. She was able and willing to play great defense when necessary, but also ready to attack and be aggressive at the right times. Her movement on the court was fantastic and most importantly, she did a great job controlling her emotions. Turati from Texas is a great player, but an even better competitor so Anna had to be sharp today. It was a heck of a match!"

Gator Senior Anna Danilina
"Conditioning was really important today. We had many long points throughout the match and in the end it was all about whoever was more fit.

"I feel like I started playing better. There are obviously some things I need to continue working on and I'm trying to improve from match to match."

NCAA Division I Women's SINGLES Championships – Second Round
Wake Forest Tennis Complex * Winston-Salem, N.C.
Thursday, May 24, 2018

UF Results Only
SINGLES – Round of 32
#18 Anna Danilina (9-16), UF def. #30 Anna Turati, Texas 1-6, 6-2, 6-2
#43 Emily Arbuthnott, Stanford def. #52 Josie Kuhlman, UF 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

NCAA Division I Women's DOUBLES Championships – First Round
#14 Vladica Babic/Sofia Blanco, Oklahoma State def. #17 Anna Danilina/Victoria Emma, UF 4-6, 6-4, 10-8

Friday's Gator Action
SINGLES
#18 Anna Danilina (9-16), UF vs. #28 Kelly Chen, Duke – 11 a.m.

Complete Draws (PDF)

Scoring for the Individual Championships

All matches shall be the best-of-three sets.
No-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker (first to seven points, must win by two points) at six-games-all will be used for all matches.

Net Notes – Anna Danilina

This is the second time Danilina will be competing in the NCAA Singles Championships.
Last year she advanced to the quarterfinals where she lost to Gator teammate and eventual finalist Belinda Woolcock.
Danilina enters the third round of the NCAA Singles Championships with a 29-10 overall singles record with a 96-27 career mark.

Net Notes – Josie Kuhlman

This was the third time Kuhlman competed in the NCAA Singles Championships.
She advanced to the semifinals her freshman season and the round of 32 last year.
Kuhlman compiled a 23-8 singles record this year and capped her collegiate singles career with a 116-39 record.
Her 116 wins tied for the 14th-most in program history, while her combined singles and doubles wins total of 212 ranks No. 13 all-time.

Net Notes – Anna Danilina & Victoria Emma

Danilina made her second appearance in the NCAA Doubles Championships, having also competed last year.
Emma, a freshman, made her debut in the national season-ending individual event.
Danilina and Emma played the No. 1 position for the Gators during the dual match season.
The Gator pair compiled a 13-8 overall record this season and all except Thursday's match came in team play.

The 4-1-1

Who: 64 singles players and 32 doubles teams
What: 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Tennis Singles & Doubles Championships
When: May 23-28
Where: Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Host School: Wake Forest University
Official Website (Scoring & Video): http://www.wakeforestsports.com/ncaatennis/