UConn’s Maria Constantinou Helps Lead Cyprus to Promotion at the Billie Jean King Cup
STORRS, Conn. – UConn tennis standout and rising senior Maria Constantinou, who calls Nicosia, Cyprus home, helped lead Team Cyprus to a perfect showing at the Billie Jean King Cup Europe Group III event held in Moldova last week.
Constantinou and Cyprus finished off an unbeaten week of tennis while competing in the Europe Group III event that took place at the Chisinau Arena Tennis Club in Moldova, clinching promotion through to Group II next season.
Cyprus finished at the top of the final standings after posting victories over Ireland (3-0), San Marino (3-0), Albania (3-0) and Armenia (3-0) and clinching the promotion with a thrilling 2-1 win over Finland.
"I've been honored to represent my country in all junior categories and in recent years I found success representing our women's national team at international competitions," Constantinou commented. "Last year I won a gold and bronze medal in double competitions with the Cyprus Olympic team at the Games of small states of Europe. And this year the captain of the team trusted me and put me in charge of our doubles play where we managed to win all our matches including tough opponents like Ireland and Armenia."
Constantinou finished the week winning all four doubles matches she played. Playing with Nina Andronicou, the duo beat Albania's team of Kristal Dule and Rea Qinami, 6-3 and 6-2, and Ireland's team of Sarah Hawkshaw and Olwyn Ryan-Bovey, 6-4 and 6-4. She teamed with Klio Maria Ioannou to top Aremnia's team of N Gevorkian and A Sogomonyan, 7-5, 3-6 and 10-8 and the team of Giorgia Benedettini and Emma Pelliccioni from San Marino, 6-1 and 6-0.
"I am so proud of Maria for representing her country of Cyprus in the Billy Jean King Cup," said UConn Director of Tennis Glenn Marshall. "Not only is it amazing to be chosen to play for your country on an international stage, but to go 4-0 in doubles is outstanding!"
During the 2023-24 season for the Huskies, Constantinou posted a team-high 22 singles wins this past season, playing in the No. 2 spot. She also posted a 24-12 doubles mark on the season, including an 11-5 mark in dual match play at the No. 1 slot with classmate Olivia Wright (Glen Allen, Va.). The duo finished the season as the No. 10 ranked doubles team in the ITA New England Regional Rankings sponsored by Tennis-Point.
"Competing at such high-level events and being surrounded by professionals is a unique experience," said Constantinou. "For me, the most important takeaway from this competition is that when driven by team togetherness and a relentless spirit, you can overcome any opponent, regardless of their ranking. This unity and grittiness are key to achieving success against even the toughest competitors, which is something I hope to bring back to UConn as we head into our next season."