MALIBU, California — Mean Green tennis senior Maria Kononova has been recognized as an Intercollegiate Tennis Association "star" as she has become the first North Texas tennis player in program history to be invited to the association's 2018 Masters Tournament held in California this coming weekend.
Kononova, the highest nationally ranked Conference USA women's tennis player and the No. 43 overall nationally ranked women's collegiate player, was one of 32 women selected to compete in the national collegiate championship tournament that the ITA is calling the "Stars Of Tennis.
"I am very happy to start my senior year with such a big tournament," Kononova said. "It's the one big one I've been missing. It's a privilege to represent UNT and Conference USA and have a great experience."
She earned the invite by being the highest ranked C-USA women's player.
Kononova will face off in singles and pair up in mixed doubles over the course of the weekend at the Malibu Racquet Club and Pepperdine University, which begins Sept. 20 and runs through Sept 23.
The winner of the Masters singles championship earns an automatic entry into the 2018 Oracle ITA National Fall Championship, which will be held in November in Arizona.
"This is another first for our program and a great opportunity for Maria to compete with the best players in the country," said head North Texas tennis coach Sujay Lama. "She gets to represent not just the Mean Green but Conference USA as well."
Becoming the first in program history is something she has gotten used to.
In May, Kononova became the first Mean Green women's tennis player to be selected for the NCAA Championships after a successful junior campaign that saw her compete in some of the most prominent national tournaments and beat highly ranked opponents such as the No. 2 player in the nation — a school record.
Last October, she became the first UNT tennis player to reach the ITA All-American Second Round after she beat Arizona State's Kelley Anderson in straight sets. Anderson was ranked No. 60 in the nation at the time of the match and had just beaten a top-20 opponent.
The three-time all-conference selectee for singles and doubles begins her road to another championship on Thursday. She will find out who she plays in the opening round later this week.