Serafima Shastova breaks Syracuse’s No. 3 singles woes vs. Virginia
Syracuse's Serafima Shastova notched its sixth win of the season in its No. 3 singles spot against No. 5 Virginia. Adeline Taylor | Contributing Photographer
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From Syracuse’s 7-9 record at the No. 1 doubles spot to Miyuka Kimoto’s recent struggles, several factors have contributed to SU’s lowly 1-8 mark in Atlantic Coast Conference play entering Friday.
However, arguably the most significant reason for Syracuse’s freefall has been its abysmal performance at the No. 3 singles spot. Heading into Sunday’s clash against Virginia, the Orange were just 5-11 at that position.
But that changed Sunday against Virginia. Despite the No. 5 Cavaliers (17-4, 9-2 ACC) downing Syracuse (8-9, 1-9 ACC) 4-1, Serafina Shastova finally got SU back on track in the No. 3 singles court. She defeated No. 30 Annabelle Xu in two sets, 6-0 and 6-4, to capture the Orange’s only singles victory of the day.
“Serafima plays very smart tennis and adjusts to her opponents,” Limam said. “She takes her time and plays with a lot of confidence.”
Shastova wasn’t head coach Younes Limam’s original choice for the position. After Anastasia Sysoeva was overmatched by California’s Lan Mi on March 8, she fell to a woeful 1-8 at the spot. This prompted Limam to move Sysoeva down to the No. 4 slot, while inserting Shastova in her place. The move immediately paid dividends, as the junior downed Georgia Tech’s Given Roach in straight sets on March 21.
After a narrow loss to Clemson at the No. 3 position two days later, Limam bumped Shastova back down to No. 4 versus Virginia Tech. Shastova won convincingly and Sysoeva fell at No. 3, so the head coach flip-flopped the two once again ahead of Sunday’s battle.
Early in the first set of Shastova and Xu’s match, Shastova had total control. Using a variety of strokes, including backhands and volleys, the junior jumped out to an early 3-0 lead.
Though Xu remained competitive, Shastova’s unique combination of serves overpowered UVA. Up 5-0, she sliced a ball through the middle of the court using a backhand which caught Xu off guard, tying it up at 30-30.
Down 40-30 in the same game, Shastova squared up and scanned the court while an errant UVA return sailed out of play. Knotted at 40-40 and on the verge of a 6-0 sweep, Shastova pumped her fist high in the air as Xu’s shot landed out of bounds.
Every time Shastova wins her first set in singles this year, she proceeds to win the match. That’s also held true for SU as a whole, as the team entered Sunday just 5-21 in singles matches where it didn’t win the first set.
This time around, Xu got out to an early 1-0 lead. Her high awareness and ball tracking were on full display early on. Unlike the last set, Shastova looked overmatched early. But she battled back to win the next two games.
Down 40-0 in the fourth game, a strong hustle from Shastova allowed her to track a shallow blooper by Xu and lift a soft roller over the net for a point. On the ensuing serve, however, Xu tied things up at 2-2. Xu continued her success into the next two frames, overpowering Shasta with a mixture of forehands and backhands to extend her lead to 4-2.
Still down 4-2, Shastova came racing in from the baseline after Xu’s towering forehand appeared to be headed over the net. As soon as the ball scraped the net, however, she slowed down and earned the point.
Shastova’s momentum carried over into the following game, where the junior showcased each of her strokes and tied the set at four. After Shastova took a commanding 40-0 lead, Xu cut her deficit to 40-30. Despite the comeback effort, SU prevailed after UVA’s shot fell short.
Up 5-4 and on the verge of her 10th singles win of the spring campaign, Shastova found herself dreadlocked in a rally with Xu. The rally spanned nearly 10 shots with an assortment of volleys before a high-arcing shot by UVA landed out of play.
Once Xu’s shot barely missed the baseline, Shastova had clinched SU’s turnaround No. 3 singles victory.
“Sometimes we break down, but the most important thing is to come back as fast as possible,” Shastova said. “I have the mindset that every point is a deuce point.”
