STANFORD, Calif. – California won two out of three Cal-Stanford matches on Monday to set up an all-Golden Bear doubles final on Tuesday at the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships at Stanford's at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium. The top-seeded and 11th-ranked duo of Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr will face the third-seeded team of Klara Fabikova and Zsofi Susanyi at 10 a.m. on the tournament's last day.
The all-Cal championship assures the Bears of sending one doubles team to the USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, as the singles and doubles champions of each of the 12 regionals earn berths to the prestigious tournament set for early November.
Playing in a two-set format with a match tiebreak in doubles on Monday, Starr and Manasse faced the fourth-seeded and 40th-ranked Stanford team of Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay in their semifinal. The Cal sophomores prevailed, 6-4, 6-4. In the other big match, Susanyi, a senior, and Fabikova, a junior, defeated the Cardinal's second-seeded Carol Zhao and Taylor Davidson, 7-5, 6-1, 1-0(2), to reach the championship match.
“It was a really good opportunity for us to be where we're at with doubles,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “The Stanford team that Klara and Zsofi beat got to the finals of the [Riviera/ITA] All-American [Championships]. That was a really big win for them. Klara and Zsofi played together a little bit last year but not a lot, because Zsofi didn't see a lot of doubles action last year. But she's a doubles All-American for a reason and has been playing well, and Klara and Zsofi played really well today. They played more aggressive than their Stanford opponents in the important points of the match. That was exciting for us.”
Susanyi earned doubles All-America honors as a freshman when she and Jana Juricova reached the NCAA doubles quarterfinals in 2012.
“Denise and Maegan's match was won in straight sets, but a lot of the games were back and forth,” Augustus said. “They had to make sure they were disciplined in their point play and played tactically smart because they played against two left handers. You don't often play teams with two lefthanders, so you have to be a little creative in how you approach the match. They did a great job of playing their attacking game and still making their adjustments tactically.”
The last time a Cal team reached the regional doubles final, the Bears emerged victorious when Jana Juricova and Mari Andersson outlasted the Cardinal's Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs in 2010 at Stanford. Cal led, 5-1, when Gibbs retired with an injury, handing the Bears the win.
Attempting to reach her first regional final, Cal freshman Karla Popovic fell to Stanford's second-seeded and 17th-ranked Carol Zhao, 7-6(1), 5-7, 6-1, in a singles semifinal on Monday. This marked the third straight match in which Zhao had beaten a Bear in three sets, as she topped Manasse, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5, in the quarterfinals and Fabikova, 6-1, 6-7(1), 6-4, in the round of 16.
“We're really, really proud of Karla making the semifinals of regionals in her first attempt,” Augustus said. “She played really well today. That third set didn't indicate how competitive the match was. The match lasted two and a half hours plus. She could handle everything Carol Zhao threw at her. We were working on her serve, and her serve improved for that match. Carol Zhao is probably Stanford's No. 1 player this year. To have three of our players take her to a third set – we would've liked to have one won of them – was a great showing. We came away from singles with hopefully earning lots of bids to national indoors, which we'll find out in a week and a half.”
Cal could earn at-large bids in singles and doubles to the indoor intercollegiate.
