No. 3 Women’s tennis shuts out Kentucky at home

Box Score
No. 3 Women’s tennis shuts out Kentucky at homeNo. 3 Women’s tennis shuts out Kentucky at home

AUBURN, Ala. – No. 3 Auburn women’s tennis finished its home weekend on a high note Saturday afternoon, blanking Kentucky by a 4-0 score at the Yarbrough Tennis Center in Auburn, Alabama. The Tigers claimed a quick doubles point followed by three straight-set singles wins in their seventh straight SEC victory to start conference play.

“I thought it was a really good win and every win in the SEC is tough to get,” Auburn head coach Jordan Szabo said after the victory. “I felt like we had nothing to lose, played really well in the doubles and started off really well on every court which is something I wanted to see. We put some different players in and mixed up the lineup in singles. At the end of the day, it was 4-0 and I think everyone was going to win their matches.

“A lot of times when the players know that they’re playing to clinch the match, they start racing to finish and they jinx each other in a way. That’s a good learning experience for us because whether you win or lose your match, it’s about the team. I thought it was a good performance and a lot of the girls played really well, especially given the change in conditions from the match on Friday.”

Ekaterina Khairutdinova and Ashton Bowers set the tone in doubles, as the Auburn duo avenged their first loss of the season Friday with a 6-0 bagel on Saturday. Khairutdinova and Bowers improved their record to 18-1 this season and 6-1 in conference matches. On the top doubles court, Kentucky’s Zoe Hammond and Julia Zhu won their first service game of the match, but Auburn’s DJ Bennett and Ava Esposito won the next five consecutive games to claim the doubles point. The Tigers have not dropped a doubles point this season, winning all 24.

Auburn kept the momentum early in singles, as Bennett and Khairutdinova won quick opening sets in their respective matches before Esposito, Stefani Webb and Eva Ionescu each claimed first-set wins.

On the top singles court, DJ Bennett earned a break to love to take a 4-2 lead over No. 116 Zoe Hammond and went on to win the next two games to claim the opening set 6-2. Hammond opened the second set with a break and took a 2-0 lead, but the Auburn senior dominated the next five games to take a 5-2 lead and ultimately won 6-3 with a hold to love in the final game. Bennett is now 12-8 in singles overall this season and 11-4 in dual matches.

Khairutdinova opened her match against No. 112 Julia Zhu strong by winning each of the first five games in the first set before claiming it 6-1. Zhu earned an early break at one-all and jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second set before Khairutdinova came back to tie the set with a break. Leading 5-4, she then broke to 15 to claim the match 6-1, 6-4 and give Auburn a 3-0 lead.

With the score 3-0, the Wildcats showed some late life and kept things close in the remaining matches. At the No. 3 position, Auburn’s Merna Refaat bounced back from an opening-set loss to win the second set and force a decisive third.

At the No. 6 position, Auburn freshman Eva Ionescu jumped out to a 3-1 first-set lead over Donna Le Roux. Ionescu later won a break on a deciding point to take a 5-3 lead, but Le Roux bounced back to tie the set at five. The Auburn freshman dominated the next service game with a hold to love and earned another break on a deciding point in the final game to win 7-5.

The two traded games in the second set until it was tied at four. Ionescu then won a critical deciding point to take a 5-4 lead and came back from a 40-0 deficit in the final game to win four consecutive points to claim the match 7-5, 6-4 and clinch the team victory for the Tigers. At the time of Ionescu’s victory, Esposito was on match point in a second-set tiebreaker against Asuncion Jadue at the No. 5 position.

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Auburn’s 10th consecutive win improves its record to 23-1 this season and a perfect 7-0 in SEC play. The Tigers also have not lost at the Yarbrough Tennis Center, going 15-0 in home matches. Auburn leads the SEC regular-season standings as the only team without a conference loss in 2026, with Texas and Texas A&M tied for second place with 6-1 SEC records.

Up next, Auburn will hit the road for a match against South Carolina on Thursday at 5 p.m. CT in Columbia. On Saturday, the Tigers will face No. 1 Georgia in a rivalry match at 2 p.m. CT in Athens.

 

#3 Auburn 4, Kentucky 0

Singles Results:

  1. #33 DJ Bennett (AUB) def. #116 Zoe Hammond (UK) 6-2, 6-3
  2. #50 E. Khairutdinova (AUB) def. #112 Julia Zhu (UK) 6-1, 6-4
  3. Merna Refaat (AUB) vs. Reese Sager (UK) 2-6, 6-2, 5-4, unfinished
  4. Stefani Webb (AUB) vs. Elena Molla (UK) 6-3, 5-5, unfinished
  5. Ava Esposito (AUB) vs. Asuncion Jadue (UK) 6-4, 6-6 (7-6), unfinished
  6. Eva Ionescu (AUB) def. Donna Le Roux (UK) 7-5, 6-4

Doubles Results:

  1. #14 DJ Bennett/Ava Esposito (AUB) def. Zoe Hammond/Julia Zhu (UK) 6-1
  2. Stefani Webb/Angella Okutoyi (AUB) vs. Asuncion Jadue/Reese Sager (UK) 3-4, unfinished
  3. E. Khairutdinova/Ashton Bowers (AUB) def. Elena Molla/Donna Le Roux (UK) 6-0

 

Time of match: 2:31 Order of finish: Doubles: 3,1; Singles: 1,2,6 Official: Donna Jerome