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A nice sign for our chances in the conference this spring, but it doesn't tell us much about how we'll do nationally. The ITA Women's All-American Championship is an elite fall singles and doubles tournament, and you will search the pre-qualifying and qualifying draws in vain for Stanford participants. Ma should be in as an automatic entrant, but it would be a great opportunity for the rest of our roster, especially Yepifanova, to get some high-quality matches. And three of the top Cal players--Giavara, Alsola, and Wiersholm--didn't even participate in their own fall invite (at least in singles--Alsola did play doubles). But oh well.
As it is, we saw an early look into Lele's thinking for our roster construction: Ma, Yepifanova, Blake, and freshman Blokhina were the four Stanford entrants in the top singles flight. None of those four was truly challenged before the semifinals. Ma's win over Blokhina was a walkover due to injury, though one wonders how severe the injury was, given Blokhina had a sold win the afternoon before. At this time of year, the slightest twinge means you sit down--this is the fall season, and it's good to get a taste of how our players will look, but not at the expense of their health.
Blake upset Yepifanova in the other semifinal, and I'm kind of glad to see that. Not that I don't want our #2 playing like our #2, but Blake is really good and this shows she's continuing to battle and get better, and isn't taking Yepifanova's spot above her for granted. If that lights a similar fire in Yepifanova, then it's all to the good. (Blake also dispatched Cal's Ivanov--who mostly played between 2 and 4 lines last year--with ease.)
And then Ma handled Blake in a competitive match, 6-3, 6-4. Good news all around.
Xu was the top seed in the Gold flight, and Geller and Houghton were also in that one. All three made the semis without incident, Houghton beat Geller in another injury walkover after just one set (suggesting that Geller may not have been severely injured, but again, if you're feeling hampered at all, no sense making anything worse in the fall), and then Xu beat Houghton, 6-3, 7-6, in the final. Nice to see a competitive match there from Houghton's perspective, though if Xu had flattened her, it might have made me feel a little more positive about Xu's spot in the lineup.
Emma Sun was Stanford's lone participant in the bottom White flight, and while she was the top seed, she lost pretty handily to a SJSU player who mostly played 5 and 6 for the Spartans last year. So, a clear sign that Sun sits at the bottom of our current pecking order.
In doubles, we saw some new duos, with Ma pairing with Yepifanova and Blake pairing with Blokhina in the top flight. Blake/Blokhina didn't advance very far, but Ma/Yepifanova technically won the title after making the final against a BYU duo, but BYU doesn't compete on Sundays, so Ma/Yepifanova won the title by default (though they then played an extra exhibition match against Cal's Alsola/Ivanov and promptly lost 8-3.)
In the next flight down, Xu paired with Geller and Houghton paired with Sun, and Xu/Geller beat Houghton/Sun 8-3 in the semis before taking that title as well.
So, all in all, Stanford domination, though the competition wasn't terribly stiff. The top flight singles had all-Stanford semis, and all three entrants in the second flight made the semis. Stanford won the singles and doubles titles in the top two flights.
The main draw of All-Americans starts on Wednesday, so we'll see how Ma does there. Yepifanova might be in there, too--she could have just made the cutoff based on the preseason rankings. But I'd have loved to see Blake and Blokhina, especially, compete in the qualifying draws.
