Sunday, May 26, 2013

Stanford's Gibbs eyes second straight NCAA title

   Nicole Gibbs of Stanford on Sunday moved within one match of repeating as the NCAA women's singles champion.
   The No. 9-16 seed pulled off her second consecutive 6-1, 6-1 victory, dominating unseeded freshman Breaunna Addison of Texas in the semifinals in Urbana, Ill. The match was moved indoors because of inclement weather.
   Gibbs improved to 23-4 this season with a 13-match winning streak. The junior from Santa Monica in the Los Angeles area will face No. 9-16 seed Mary Weatherholt of Nebraska on Monday at 10 a.m. PDT for the title. The match will be streamed live at www.ncaa.com.
   Weatherholt, a senior from Prairie Village, Kan., earned Nebraska's first appearance in the NCAA singles final with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over unseeded Alexa Guarachi of Alabama. It will be the first meeting between Gibbs, ranked No. 177 in the world, and Weatherholt.
    After leading Stanford to the team title, Gibbs has won all 10 of her sets in the singles event. Weatherholt, 30-1 with a 15-match winning streak, has lost only one set.
   "I think the two best players in the tournament are going to meet in the final, and that doesn't happen very often," Nebraska associate head coach Hayden Perez said on huskers.com. "It is going to be a great final, and Mary is looking forward to it." 
   Gibbs will try to become the first repeat champion in NCAA women's singles since Stanford's Amber Liu in 2003 and 2004. Liu is married to International Tennis Hall of Famer Michael Chang.
   The last woman to play on the championship team and win the singles crown in the same season was Duke's Mallory Cecil in 2009 at College Station, Texas.
   Gibbs, who won last year's doubles title with Mallory Burdette, lost in the first round of that event this year with Kristie Ahn. Burdette turned pro last September after reaching the third round of the U.S. Open, forgoing her senior year.
   The last man or woman to win the "Triple Crown" -- team, singles and doubles titles -- was Matias Boeker of Georgia in 2001. 
   See below for Sunday's complete singles and doubles results.
   French Open -- Sam Querrey, seeded 18th, gained revenge with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia in the first round in Paris.
   In their only previous meeting, Lacko defeated Querrey 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the first round of the 2011 SAP Open in San Jose. The 25-year-old Querrey was born in San Francisco, 48 miles (77 kilometers) north of San Jose.
   Querrey, ranked 20th, earned only his second career victory in eight matches in the French Open. The part-time member of the Sacramento Capitals in World TeamTennis will play Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic. Hajek, ranked 87th, beat 20-year-old qualifier Denis Kudla of the United States 6-2, 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.
   Burdette, making her French Open debut, dispatched Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-3, 6-4. Burdette, ranked No. 80, will meet the winner of Monday's match between fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland and Israeli veteran Shahar Peer.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
In Urbana, Ill.
Women's singles semifinals
   Nicole Gibbs (9-16), Stanford, def. Breaunna Addison, Texas, 6-1, 6-1.
   Mary Weatherholt (9-16), Nebraska, def. Alexa Guarachi, Alabama, 6-0, 6-3.
Men's singles semifinals
   Jarmere Jenkins (3), Virginia, def. Sebastian Fanselow (9-16), Pepperdine, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3).
   Blaz Rola (9-16), Ohio State, def. Japie De Klerk, Tulsa, 6-2, 6-3.
Women's doubles semifinals
   Robin Anderson and Skylar Morton, UCLA, def. Alexa Guarachi and Mary Anne Macfarlane (5-8), Albama, 7-5, 6-4.
   Kaitlyn Christian and Sabrina Santamaria (2), USC, def. Brynn Boren and Kata Szekely (4), Tennessee, 7-5, 7-5.
Men's doubles semifinals
   Chris Camillone and David Holiner, Texas, def. Jonas Lutjen and Nik Scholtz (3), Mississippi, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.
   Jarmere Jenkins and Mac Styslinger (4), Virginia, def. Henrique Cunha and Raphael Hemmeler (2), Duke, 7-5, 6-3.

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