Guzal Yusupova took a drink from her Gatorade bottle and flexed her wrists, examining her right hand, before looking toward her teammate, Sonya Treshcheva, playing on the adjacent court. “Let’s go Sonya,” Yusupova said.

Walking to the baseline of court three, Yusupova bounced her racket on her leg and awaited a serve from Cornell’s Valerie Ho. 

Last Monday, No. 64 Yusupova was upset by VCU’s No. 97 Paola Exposito Diaz-Delgado. But this weekend, the senior felt more comfortable on her home court, she said. Yusupova won her singles match in straight sets, 6-1 6-2. The win pulled Syracuse (3-0) ahead of Cornell (0-4) 2-1 at Drumlins. The Orange went on to win five of their six singles matches on Sunday, and topped Cornell 5-2.

After winning the first set, Yusupova fell behind in the second, 2-0, after hitting shots long and out of bounds. Heading into the weekend, Yusupova had practiced her serves, she said. In the second set, she pulled even at two games by placing her serves right on Ho’s service line forcing long rallies or sometimes returns into the net. Forcing her opponent’s shots into the net was a tactic — something she usually does, she said. While Ho still returned many of Yusupova’s serves, the long rallies allowed Yusupova to use her backhand, something she had been working on during practice this week.

Whenever Yusupova had a slight advantage, she used her backhand to finish the point. She hit the ball into Ho’s court, across the sideline and out of play. Often, the Big Red’s first singles player could only watch the shot fall for a Syracuse point.

“(Yusupova’s backhand) is always something that she feeds on and likes to feel good on,” said assistant coach Jennifer Meredith. “When (Yusupova) is striking the ball well it is really hard to beat her.”

Up 6-1 5-2, Yusupova finished off Ho and walked to the net to shake her opponent’s hand. After thanking the chair umpire as well, Yusupova let out a large grin walking towards her former assistant coach, Shelley George, who was visiting Syracuse’s first home game.

“Last weekend, it’s not that (Yusupova) didn’t play well, credit to the other girl,” head coach Younes Limam said. “I was glad to see her bounce back and come on top today.”

Published on January 26, 2020 at 8:40 pm

Contact Christopher: cscargla@syr.edu | @chrisscargs