Ahn, Zhao advance to NCAA round of 16 in both singles and doubles

May 23, 2014, 1:12 a.m.

Success came in bunches for senior Kristie Ahn and freshman Carol Zhao at the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships on Thursday, with both winning their singles matches before pairing up to advance to the second round of the doubles tournament later in the afternoon.

Senior Kristie Ahn (above) earned All-American honors in singles and doubles for the second consecutive season on Thursday in Athens, Georgia. Ahn improved to 29-4 in singles for the 2013-2014 season with a straight sets victory in  the Second Round. (LARRY GE / / SONY DSC)
Senior Kristie Ahn (above) earned All-America honors in singles and doubles for the second consecutive season on Thursday in Athens, Georgia. Ahn improved to 29-4 in singles for the 2013-2014 season with a straight sets victory in the Second Round. (LARRY GE/The Stanford Daily)

After an easy victory over Virginia’s Stephanie Nauta in the first round, Ahn kept the ball rolling with another 6-4, 6-2 straight-set victory, this time over No. 38 Kyle Phillips of UCLA. In addition, the 21st-ranked Zhao pulled off a stunner with a straight-set victory over the nation’s sixth-ranked player in Lauren Herring, who was playing on her home court and entered the match with a 30-5 record. By winning, Ahn and Zhao guaranteed themselves All-America honors.

Ranked No. 10 in the nation in doubles, Ahn and Zhao faltered briefly in the first set before roaring back for a three-set win over Louisville’s Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine in the first round of the doubles bracket.

The remaining members of Stanford’s team that had advanced past the first round of the singles draw—freshmen Taylor Davidson and Caroline Doyle and sophomore Krista Hardebeck—did not have as easy of a time on Thursday, with all three taking losses to higher-ranked opponents to drop out of the tournament.

Ahn will now advance to take on No. 23 Zsofi Susanyi of California, while Zhao will match up against No. 13 Chanelle Van Nguyen of UCLA. As a doubles pair, the duo will face No. 8 Monique Albuquerque and Clementina Riobueno of Miami (FL) in the next round.

Do-Hyoung Park '16, M.S. '17 is the Minnesota Twins beat reporter at MLB.com, having somehow ensured that his endless hours sunk into The Daily became a shockingly viable career. He was previously the Chief Operating Officer and Business Manager at The Stanford Daily for FY17-18. He also covered Stanford football and baseball for five seasons as a student and served two terms as sports editor and four terms on the copy desk. He was also a color commentator for KZSU 90.1 FM's football broadcast team for the 2015-16 Rose Bowl season.

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