COLUMBIA, Mo. With many new faces and early season uncertainties abounding, Kansas State head coach Steve Bietau may have settled at least one issue on Friday. Bietau’s No. 1 doubles tandem of Tamar Kvaratskhelia and Katerina Kudlackova swept through the first day of competition at the 2005 Missouri Mock Duals at Green Tennis Center.

The duo dismissed Missouri’s No. 1 doubles team Hana Kraftova and Lubica Nadasska and followed with an 8-0 win over Iowa State’s No. 1 team of Jill Palen and Evangelina Soriano.

“I thought No. 1 doubles played solid today. We’ll keep them there as long as they do fine,” Kansas State assistant Marcos Mendez said. “In practice we saw that they could work together so we wanted to see how they would do in matches and if they had chemistry together. They showed today that they are comfortable playing together.”

Kvaratskhelia and Kudlackova also notched a pair of singles wins in the team’s first action of the 2005-06 season.

“She’s a good player. I like the way she plays, especially in doubles,” Kvaratskhelia said of her new teammate and doubles partner. “I was expecting that we would play good because we are good in practice and are a good combination. It was a lot of fun.”

Kudlackova, a freshman who started in the No. 5 position for the Wildcats, defeated pre-season No. 55 Vlatka Jovanovic in two sets, 6-2, 6-4.

Kudlackova won the first set fairly easily and was up 4-1 in the second set before Jovanovic tied the match at 4 games apiece.

“I started to get a little nervous and she started to comeback,” Kudlackova said. “I made some stupid mistakes so it was 4-4 and then I won.”

Kudlackova won the final two games to earn the first victory of her career.

Kvaratskhelia, last year’s wins leader, started off the new season by defeating Arkansas’ Maryori Franco 6-4 and 6-2. Kvaratskhelia and Franco met at last year’s  ITA Region V Championships where Kvaratskhelia needed a second set tiebreak to win.

Kavaratskhelia and Kudlackova accounted for three of the five Kansas State victories on Friday in both doubles and singles. The other winners were Jessica Simosa and Fernanda Da Valle in doubles against Iowa State and Olga Klimova and Maya Ristic in doubles over a mixed team from Missouri and Arkansas.

Klimova made her return to the court on Friday and made more of an impact than expected in her first match since tearing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) against Brigham Young on January 28. Klimova played in two doubles matches winning one with Ristic.

The Wildcats return to the court Saturday where they will play doubles against Arkansas and Missouri and singles against Iowa State.

2005 Missouri Mock Duals

Day One Results

Friday, September 23

Singles

vs. Arkansas

1. Aurelija Miseviciute (Arkansas) def. Jessica Simosa (KSU), 6-1, 6-2

2. (95) Tamar Kvaratskhelia (KSU) def. (113) Maryori Franco (Arkansas) 6-4, 6-2

3. Ela Kaluder (Arkansas) def. Viviana Yrureta (KSU) 6-0, 6-0

4. Melissa Cornett (Arkansas) def. Fernanda Da Valle (KSU) 6-0, 6-3

5. Katka Kudlackova (KSU) def. (52) Vlatka Jovanovic (Arkansas) 6-2, 6-4

6. Karina Ledaja (Arkansas) def. Tereza Prochazkova (KSU) 7-5, 6-1

7. Audrey Bordeleau (Arkansas) def. Maya Ristic (KSU) 6-0, 6-0

Doubles

vs. Missouri

1. Kvaratskhelia/Kudlackova (KSU) def. Kraftova/Nadasska (Missouri) 8-1

2. Josbena/Olshanskaya (Missouri) def. Simosa/Da Valle (KSU) 8-6

3. Bellis/Johns (Missouri) def. Yrureta/Prochazkova (KSU) 9-7

4. Klimova/Ristic (KSU) def. Crull (Missouri)/Linden (Arkansas) 9-7

vs. Iowa State

1. Kvaratskhelia/Kudlackova (KSU) def. Pallen/Soriano (Iowa State) 8-0

2. Simosa/Da Valle (KSU) def. Uscinski/Derovin (Iowa State) 8-4

3. Chermel/Mickey (Iowa State) def. Klimova/Yrureta (KSU) 8-6