Serafima Shastova shines against Fordham in singles win over Nevena Kolarevic
Syracuse tennis’ Serafima Shastova defeated Fordham’s Nevena Kolarevic in the Orange’s 6-1 win over the Rams Sunday. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Nevena Kolarevic had never lost in collegiate singles play. The Fordham senior went undefeated in her 16 matches in the 2024-25, and the Serbian didn’t drop any matches while at Illinois State.
That changed Sunday when Kolarevic ran into Syracuse’s Serafima Shastova. In the Orange’s (2-0, Atlantic Coast) 6-1 win against Fordham (1-1, Atlantic 10), Shastova snapped the Serbian’s spotless singles record with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory at No. 1 singles.
“The biggest thing that stood out to us is … not giving (Kolarevic) as much pace and changing the pace, so I think (Shastova) really did a good job with that,” SU head coach Younes Limam said postgame.
The Orange knew Kolarevic was going to be a problem before anyone stepped on the court Sunday morning. She went a perfect 13-0 last season, with all but one of her wins coming at the No. 1 singles position, leading the Rams to earn the top seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. In the tournament, Fordham advanced all the way to the semifinal, where it fell to VCU.
Kolarevic was awarded as the A-10 Most Outstanding Performer, a title that earned her First Team All-Atlantic 10 and contributed to her being ranked as the No. 7 ranked singles player in the Northeast Region.
Sunday, Kolarevic didn’t begin against Shastova, but rather in a doubles match against Nelly Knezkova and Anastasia Sysoeva, with Julianne Nguyen as her doubles partner. Although her work at the net was shaky, Kolarevic dominated while on the baseline. From keeping pace with her backhand to smashing it down the line with her forehand, Kolarevic continuously gave the Orange trouble. What’s more, she won multiple points with her serve alone, either forcing the return into the net or forcing a weak return Nguyen could slam back.
However, the Orange still managed to win the set 6-3, contributing to Syracuse securing the doubles point. They took advantage of Kolarevic at the net between a mix of unreturnable body shots and forcing weak returns.
Shortly after the doubles matches ended, Kolarevic started slow against Shastova in the No. 1 singles match. Shastova took the lead within the first couple games and didn’t look back, winning the set 6-3.
However, in a much-needed bounce-back, Kolarevic dominated the second set with controlling backhands and punishing forehands, winning 6-1. By the time she led 4-1 in the second set, Shastova started to show visible frustration, something that could be seen for the remainder of the match.
In the third set, Shastova and Kolarevic went back and forth in a long-winded battle. Eventually, the two evened up with five games each, only for Shastova to finally pull ahead and win the set 7-5. In the end, it came down to Shastova’s control of the match.
When Kolarevic would make a mistake and hit a recovery shot, Shastova was always there to punish the lob.
Although the match wasn’t always pretty and some frustration was shown, Shastova has now proved that she can beat a decorated player who was previously undefeated in collegiate singles play.
“I thought you guys witnessed a really high level match,” Limam said.
