Up against the far wall inside Drumlins Country Club, while Syracuse struggled against Brown, Dina Hegab and Guzal Yusupova led their set 5-4, and the game 30-15. Hegab bounced the ball four times, leaned back, and served across the court. Yusupova stared into the eyes of Alessandra Bianco.

When she saw Hegab’s serve fly past the outstretched return, she let out a loud “Oyyyyy.” Two points later, a Yusupova backhand return went deep into the corner. Brown tried to keep the rally going with a defensive lob. Yusupova didn’t even look to see where it landed. She knew it was out of bounds. She high-fived Hegab, grabbed her Gatorade towel and threw it around her neck.

In No. 24 Syracuse’s 7-0 win, her first match since transferring from Washington State last summer, Yusupova dominated in her singles and doubles matchups. When Gabriela Knutson and Miranda Ramirez, SU’s returning No. 1 pair, faltered, it was Yusupova and Hegab that steadied the Orange (1-0). Yusupova’s powerful winners and returns led to a 6-4 doubles win and a 6-3, 6-0 singles victory over Brown (0-1). 

“She’s a gamer, she’s a competitor, and she hates to lose,” head coach Younes Limam said. “She set the tone right off the start.”

Against Julia Newman and Sophia Reddy, two freshmen, Yusupova punished Brown’s No. 3 pair on the outside. Often times, the Bears chased her returns with outstretched arms, no chance for any type of return. Powerful hitting is what she prides her game on, Yusupova said.

And her experience with Hegab showed. In the fall, they won the A-flight doubles draw at the West Point Invitational. Overall, Yusupova went 11-5 in fall doubles and 11-2 in fall singles.

During the final set of her singles match against Newman, Yusupova swayed side to side, awaiting her serve. Yusupova had smashed returns and winners past Newman all match. Newman’s first serve was a fault into the net.

Later, after fending off two match points, she leaned back to serve, but resisted and caught the ball, resetting. Yusupova waited, twisting her racket in her hands, wound up, and fired a return towards the right corner. The next movement Yusupova made was towards the net to shake hands. Newman’s rally return went long, and SU’s second point was secured.

“You’re on the court and you are constantly looking to the other courts to see how they’re doing,” Knutson said, “and sometimes if they’re down, you’re like, ‘Oh, no, I have to win.’

Today, it was Yusupova who gave Knutson relief. In between the doubles and singles matches, Knutson walked past Hegab as she was coming back onto the court. Hegab held a banana peel in one hand, and high-fived Knutson as she walked by with the other. Before their hands met, Knutson held up one finger in the air on both her hands.

‘1-0,’ she whispered to Hegab, with a big smile on her face.

On an afternoon when Knutson was forced into a third set against unranked Devon Jack, there was Yusupova again, ensuring that Syracuse picked up a valuable singles point if Knutson lost. Against Brown, that point didn’t matter. But when ACC play starts, where the Orange face seven current top-25 teams, it will.

“Sometimes it comes down to that doubles point,” Limam said. “We lost our concentration at our No. 2 doubles, we came back from behind at No. 1 doubles.”

Immediately after Yusupova’s singles match, Limam jogged across Sofya Treshcheva’s court and patted her on the back. Yusupova smiled, opened her red Wilson bag, and stuffed her racket inside.

Yusupova had finished her singles match almost 20 minutes before anyone else.

“This year we can do everything that we want,” Yusupova said. “…For me I think the most important thing is to give a point to my team so we can win the match.”

Published on January 19, 2019 at 4:15 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew