Babos, Brugues Drop First Round Matches at ITA Indoor
©Colette Lewis 2006--
Columbus, OH
I didn't see all the matches in today's opening round at the ITA Individual Indoor. With eight courts going from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m., it's just not possible. But I did see nearly every point of Jenna Long's 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 upset of top seed Suzi Babos of California. I didn't see more than a couple of points of the other big surprise in the women's draw, but plenty of hometown fans were at The Racquet Club of Columbus to witness Georgia Tech freshman and Columbus native Kirsten Flower's 6-4, 6-4 win over fifth seed and 2005 Individual Indoor finalist Theresa Logar of Stanford.
Babos, on a fifteen match win streak dating back to last season, started off spraying balls wildly, while North Carolina's Long used consistency and pace to pressure the lefthanded NCAA champion. In the second set, Babos began to locate her backhand and her depth, giving Long fewer unearned points. But when it looked as if Babos would assert herself, she suddenly fell into a 3-0 hole in the third set, only to pull even three games later. The roller coaster was far from over however, as Long broke Babos to take a 5-3 lead. Long's struggle to serve out the match was a long one. She held two match points in the five-deuce game, but Babos hit winners when she needed them to again even the match. Both players held their next service games, but at 5-6, 30-40, Babos made her last unforced error, giving Long the victory. Despite the sustained tension of the match, Long displayed little emotion or volatility while Babos' frustrations were on full display throughout the contest. In the end, she couldn't summon her edge in big-match experience, and Long remained composed enough to finish the upset.
Babos and Logar were the only two women's seeds to fall in first round singles action Thursday. Second seed Audra Cohen of Miami cruised past Anna Lubinsky of Texas A & M 6-1, 6-2 and third seed Kristi Miller of Georgia Tech also won handily, 6-3, 6-1, over Cismina Ciobanu of Notre Dame.
On the men's side, ITA All-American champion Arnau Brugues of Tulsa, the no. 3 seed, was beaten by Wake Forest's Todd Paul 7-6 (6), 6-0, but he was down 3-0 before he even took the court. A match time misunderstanding led to his late arrival, and overcoming that deficit was all that he could manage. The consistency he showed at last month's All-American was nowhere to be found in the few points I watched and second set was over in what seemed to be minutes.
Top seed Ben Kohlloeffel of UCLA had no trouble, defeating Clancy Shields of Boise State 6-2, 6-3, but second seed John Isner had to hold on for dear life in the night's final match. The Georgia senior eked out a win over Alex Skrypko of SMU 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6).
Two other men's seeds lost Thursday. No. 5 Somdev Devvarman of Virginia dropped a 6-3, 7-5 decision to Bojan Zsumanski of Texas Tech. A pulled muscle kept the 2006 NCAA finalist from moving with his usual speed, and forced him to withdraw from the consolation tournament. No. 6 seed Luis Flores of Georgia was defeated by Ivan Puchkarov of Okalahoma State 6-3, 6-4.
The doubles went according to plan for the men, with all four seeded teams advancing. The women, however, lost their top two seeds. The top seeded team of Catrina and Christian Thompson of Notre Dame lost to TCU's Ana Cetnik and Anna Sydorska 8-3, while Cal's Babos and Zsuzsanna Fodor, the second seeds, fell 8-6 to Florida State's Lauren Macfarlane and Nicola Slater.
Friday begins with the doubles quarterfinals, followed by two rounds of singles, so it will be another long day of tennis.
Marcia Frost of collegeandjuniortennis has additional coverage of the tournament. For complete draws and scores, see itatennis.com.
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