It was an all-Stanford final in the ITA Northwest Regional Championships at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium yesterday, with sophomore Nicole Gibbs defeating junior teammate Mallory Burdette, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3). It was the first singles title of Gibbs’ Stanford career.
The fourth-seeded Gibbs upended two higher-ranked opponents on her road to the win, taking down the tournament’s top seed, Jana Juricova of California (4-6, 6-2, 6-2), on Monday, followed by second seed Burdette. Burdette defeated third-seeded Denise Dy of Washington (6-4, 6-1) to advance to the final match.
Junior Stacey Tan also played in the singles quarterfinals, but fell to Dy (6-2, 6-2) on Sunday. However, she and doubles partner freshman Ellen Tsay won five straight matches to capture the doubles championship, beating Sacramento State’s Clarisse Baca and Maria Meliuk (8-4).
Both Gibbs and Burdette and the Tan-Tsay pair, in addition to the other singles finalists and doubles champions from the other regions, have earned berths to the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships to compete in two 32-person fields (32 singles and 16 doubles pairs). The event will be held from Nov. 4 to Nov. 7 in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.
-Caroline Caselli