OJAI, Calif. – Klara Fabikova – who a few weeks ago ascended to play court-one singles for California – now looks to move to the top of the entire conference when she plays for the top-flight singles title on Sunday at the Pac-12 Championships. The Golden Bear junior – ranked 25th nationally and seeded fourth in the championships singles draw – upset USC’s top-seeded and 14th-ranked Giuliana Olmos, 6-1, 6-2, in the semifinal round on Saturday morning at Libbey Park.
A product of Brno, Czech Republic, Fabikova is slated to battle UCLA’s Catherine Harrison in the final at 10 a.m. on Sunday. The Pac-12 Networks will broadcast the match live.
Cal has captured two championships singles titles at the conference event, with Raquel Kops-Jones winning in 2004 and Zsuzsanna Fodor winning in 2006.
Fabikova could have been playing in two Sunday finals, but the Cal pair of Fabikova and senior Zsofi Susanyi fell in Saturday’s championship doubles semifinal round, which took place at Libbey Park before the singles semifinals. The second-seeded and sixth-ranked pair lost to Stanford’s fourth-seeded and 18th-ranked Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay, 8-4. In the other semifinal, Cal’s third-seeded and eighth-ranked duo of sophomores Denise Starr and Maegan Manasse were to face Stanford’s top-seeded and second-ranked Taylor Davidson and Carol Zhao. But the Bears withdrew from the match due to injury, making Sunday’s championship doubles final an all-Cardinal affair.
“The day didn’t get off to as good as a start as we would’ve hoped because we didn’t get a team through to the doubles final,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “Stanford played fairly well, but I didn’t think we played as well as we could have. That’s okay. We have more to work on in the next couple of weeks in doubles before NCAAs.
“Klara did a really good job just getting going in the singles and putting that doubles match behind her. Giuliana is a really tough out. You’ve got to really have the right game plan, and you need to be able to be aggressive. She doesn’t give you a ton of short balls, but when she does you have to really take advantage of them, and I think Klara did a great job of that. She served very well, too. I don’t know how many aces she had, but she had quite a few.
“Giuliana tried to make a bit of a run there in the second set. Klara did a really good job of being patient and looking for her opportunities. Klara came in probably every opportunity she had to force an error, because Giuliana really doesn’t make many unforced errors.”
Fabikova played court-two singles most of the season – compiling an 11-3 record on the second court – but she moved to court one on April 3 vs. Washington and has posted a 3-2 record so far at the top spot in the lineup.
“The thing about Klara has been her consistency,” Augustus said. “Match in, match out, week in, week out, the team has really been able to rely on her. When she had the opportunity to step up and compete on court one, I think she learned a lot from that. She minimized her loose points – if she makes an error, she’s usually right back on that next point. She’s doing a good job of being mentally tough and competing throughout the whole match.”
Pac-12 Championships
April 25, 2015, in Ojai, Calif.
Libbey Park
Cal Results
Championship Singles
Semifinal Round
[4] No. 25 Klara Fabikova (Cal) def. [1] No. 18 Giuliana Olmos (USC) – 6-1, 6-2
Championship Doubles
Semifinal Round
[4] No. 18 Caroline Doyle/Ellen Tsay (Stanford) def. [2] No. 6 Klara Fabikova/Zsofi Susanyi (Cal) – 8-4
[1] No. 2 Taylor Davidson/Carol Zhao (Stanford) vs. [3] No. 8 Maegan Manasse/Denise Starr (Cal) – Stanford advances (Cal withdrew due to inj.)
