Tennis standout receives honors for excellence on the tennis court and in the classroom.

With a string of wins against top ranked players in the nation last season, Fresno State tennis star, Anastasia Petukhova moved up 18 places in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings.

As the current No. 4 seed in the nation, Petukhova and her coach, Simon Thibodeau, said they were not at all surprised at her high placement.

“We had a good idea that she would rank in the top 10 since she had a lot of wins during the fall season,” Thibodeau said.

Petukhova had competed last fall in the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoors Championship where she defeated several ranked players, including the No. 1 seed Maria Mosolova from Northwestern. She also pulled off an upset against higher ranked players at the ITA All-American tournament, where she won the consolation bracket.

Being ranked as the top player in the nation is not something new to Petukhova. Senior tennis player and her doubles partner, Renata Kucerkova, have been ranked No. 1 in the women’s doubles division and were named as the ITA doubles team of the year at the end of the 2008-09 season.

This year, Petukhova intends to make a name for herself as a singles player.

“I’m glad that I can prove that I’m a good individuals player, she said. “I kind of got lucky since I’m playing the best singles game of my life.”

Thibodeau said that Petukhova’s attitude on the court is all business just as she is out of it. As a pre-business major, the senior from Moscow, Russia, tends to be serious in her games as well as in the classroom.

“She’s all business. She goes out 100 percent in her games and she’s business oriented in every way,” Thibodeau said.

With a 4.0 GPA, Petukhova said she’s determined to do well in the classroom and in her tournament events, but her true passion is pursuing a career as an entrepreneur.

“I’m very focused on getting a good education, Petukhova said. “I’m very passionate about the business industry and learning about it.”

Thibodeau said Petukhova has stepped up as a leader in their team by mentoring the younger players on the roster, which consists of one sophomore and five freshmen.

“She helps the team in so many ways. She’s like a big sister to the other players,” Thibodeau said. “She very intense and very demanding on the court, so it’s like you have no choice but to be your best on the court.”

Thibodeau said that Petukhova expects a lot from her teammates because she expects a lot from herself as well.

“I’ve always been that person who likes to lead and inspire my team,” Petukhova said.

With the spring season resuming this weekend, Petukhova and the Bulldog women’s tennis team will travel to Berkeley for the California Winter Invite.

Petukhova said not only does she want to succeed in her singles career, she also wants to win the doubles championship again with Kucerkova.

“After we won the championship, we made a promise that we’ll do it again next season so we want to compete again for the doubles title,” she said.

Thibodeau said that since this is only preliminary ranking for players, Petukhova still has the potential to rank higher.

“She’s on her way to be one of the most successful players of the season,” Thibodeau said.