Emma Navarro and Sam Riffice Claim NCAA Division I Singles Titles; UNC's Jones Follows in Father's Footsteps in Doubles; Tennessee Captures Men's Doubles Crown; Brooksby, McDonald and Baptiste Through to French Open Main Draw

Emma Navarro is new to the college scene, but the University of Virginia freshman proved herself in late stages of the NCAA Division I singles championships, defeating top seed Sara Daavettila of North Carolina in the semifinals, then ending the 11-match winning streak of No. 2 seed and defending champion Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami convincingly, with a 6-3, 6-1 decision in this afternoon's final.

Navarro, seeded third, started slowly, falling behind 2-0, which she chalked up to losing two deciding points and some early jitters. But once she found the patterns she wanted, the 20-year-old from Charleston was able to force errors that Perez-Somarriba does not usually make. Aware that Perez-Somarriba had fashioned many comebacks, including in Navarro's only loss in ACC competition this spring, she knew that keeping her foot on the gas was important.

"I was up 6-1, 2-0 and she ended up coming back, winning in the third set," Navarro said. "So I knew she was going to fight, and she definitely did today. I think I was able to dictate points with my forehand and finish a lot of points with my backhand, and I was able to execute better than last time. It's always a good feeling, when you have a game plan and you can follow through with it."

Navarro ended the first set with a powerful cross court backhand that forced an error from Perez-Somarriba, and aside from dropping her serve in the second game of the second set, it was smooth sailing for Navarro, who won the next five games.

Perez-Somarriba, one of the most decorated players in University of Miami history, credited Navarro for her strategy.

"She was using different paces, especially with her forehand, throughout the whole match and that kind of threw me off," said the 22-year-old from Madrid, who earned her graduate degree in sports administration in her fifth year on campus. "I tried to change the tactics a little bit, but it didn't work, obviously. She, I think, played very solid, barely made unforced errors. Credit to her, she played a great match and had a great run and a great season."

An American who wins the NCAA singles title is traditionally offered a US Open main draw wild card, and Navarro is looking forward to competing in New York this summer.

"I would say the US Open is my favorite tournament that I've ever played in," said Navarro, who played the Junior Championships there in 2018 and 2019 and the women's qualifying in 2019. "It's really special for me; I was born there and my parents lived there for a long time, so playing in New York City is pretty awesome. I would be ecstatic about that opportunity."

That does not mean that Navarro has chosen to forego her remaining college eligibility however. 

"I'm planning to go back to school," said Navarro, who is currently 384 in the WTA rankings. "Just because I've had such a great time at school this past semester. I'll really just take it one semester at a time; I'm not sure what the future will hold, we'll see."

Navarro's plans for the summer include women's pro circuit events in Europe, but not before she takes some time off after a hectic spring that saw her win two matches in WTA tournaments in Charleston while competing at the top of the lineup for the Cavaliers throughout the season in the nation's top conference.

"I'm going home, relax for a few weeks, see my family and friends," said Navarro, who had the support of her family in Lake Nona this week, as well as her dog, Major Tom. "I have some tournaments in Europe, some at home. I'm just going to train hard, play hard at tournaments and we'll see."

Sam Riffice had already experienced the elation of Florida's first NCAA team title in program history on Saturday, but the letdown he suffered was confined to the first set of his first match the next day. After eight straight days of competing against the nation's top players, a letdown in the final wasn't unexpected, but after trailing No. 2 seed Daniel Rodrigues of South Carolina 5-0 in the first set, Riffice found the burst of adrenaline he needed to earn a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory.

Riffice found his way back into the match by winning three straight games in the first set before Rodrigues closed it out.

"Even though I lost that set, I felt I had a lot of momentum going into the second," said the 22-year-old junior. "I won those three games in a row and I felt I was right there on his serve to maybe get another break...I knew I was getting into the match, I knew I was starting to play my tennis. Two other times this week I lost the first set, so I knew it wasn't over. I knew it was going to be a physical match, I thought I might get some energy, play good tennis early in the second, thinking I was maybe able to run away with it, and that's what I was able to do."

After the 10-minute heat break, Riffice again jumped into the lead in the third set, going up 3-1 and 4-2. Rodrigues got that break back however, breaking Riffice quickly to make it 4-4. Riffice won the first two points with Rodrigues serving at 4-all, and then the junior from Portugal was given a point penalty for taking too much time. Facing four break points, Rodrigues saved the first two, but Riffice chipped and charged on a second serve return, with Rodrigues putting the passing shot well long to give Riffice the chance to serve for the match.

With Rodrigues struggling with his return, Riffice was able to close it out on his first match point, adding a singles title to his team championship.

Rodrigues was not pleased with the time violation point, although he was careful not to blame his loss on it.

"The conditions were very tough, it was very hot out there, very humid and it's 4-all in the third set," Rodrigues said. "In the second set I took way more time between points than the third set. It's way too important a point to take it. The first warning I had wasn't even me, it was my coach passing in front of the court, I was ready to return the serve, and he (the chair umpire) gave me a warning. For me, I didn't agree....I was already struggling so much, and every point, it's important to me, you know. But I'm not going to talk about that anymore, because it was a situation that doesn't matter, it wasn't the reason why I lost."

Riffice had noticed that Rodrigues was taking all his allotted time between points.

"He was playing incredible tennis, and that takes a lot out of you," Riffice said. "I think early in second, when I got the first break, my energy started to go up and his went down a little bit, and just from there, when the momentum switches and it's that hot out there, this deep in the tournament, I feel it's hard to get back. I feel like I did a good job of keeping my foot on the gas from the second set on, and I didn't give him a chance to breathe."

Riffice acknowledged that he was aware that a US Open main wild card was at stake, although he has had experience in contemplating that prize from his years as a top American junior.

"I had a lot of great times at Kalamazoo, where there's the same sort of pressure," Riffice said. "I was going in as one of the top seeds and I never got it, never made it to the finals even. I tried not to think about it too much, because I didn't want the weight of it to get on me, but it's an incredible honor, one of the highlights of college tennis from an individual standpoint, being able to play for a US Open wild card. They're so coveted, so few people get them, so many people try for them."

Although a substantial first round paycheck would await him should he opt to turn pro at that event, Riffice is not ready to make that decision now. 

"This week is one good tournament," Riffice said. "I didn't get pro points for this, didn't improve my pro ranking. Hopefully I get some great opportunities this summer, in terms of wild cards into Challengers and things, and I think I'm going to wait to see how I do at the end of the summer. There's so many great US tournaments in the summertime. Maybe if I keep this streak going and I keep playing high level tennis and am able to help my pro ranking, then I'll start considering that in the fall. But right now, I just view it as a really good week, a really good tournament and I don't think anyone can base anything off one week. I'll wait to see what I do throughout the summer and then in the fall, to determine what my next step is."

In the women's doubles final, North Carolina's Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty earned the program's second NCAA doubles title, beating unseeded Lulu Sun and Kylie Collins of Texas 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-8. The No. 4 seeds saved four match points in their first two matches of the tournament, which they said allowed them to play more freely in subsequent matches.

"I kept telling my mom, 'we're playing with free money here,'" said Scotty, a sophomore from Maryland. "We shouldn't even be here right now, we're getting past these matches, so build from each match and play with confidence.

When the Tar Heels went up 9-8, with Sun serving, Jones decided that being aggressive was their best option.

"I just glanced up at the scoreboard and saw that it was match point, so I said, be brave," Jones said. "I just poached on match point. Our coaches were telling us, be brave, be bold, those are the people that come out with the win, so that's what I tried to do, even though I didn't know until the last second that it was match point."

Jones now has joined her father Kelly, who won men's doubles titles at Pepperdine in 1984 and 1985, on the list of NCAA champions.

"A couple of days ago I was just looking through my camera roll and I happened on a picture that I took when I was visiting Pepperdine of him when he won the title," said Jones, a graduate student who will be staying in Chapel Hill for her internship next year. "I told him I tried to look at and be like, how cool would that be if I could do what my dad did. Sure enough, I did, so it was a really special moment."

The first North Carolina team to win an NCAA doubles title was Jenna Long and Sara Anundsen, who blazed that trail in 2007. Anundsen, now O'Leary, is now leading the University of Virginia women's program.

The men's doubles championship went to Tennessee's Adam Walton and Pat Harper, the No. 3 seeds, who saved two match points to defeat the unseeded Auburn team of Finn Murgett and Tad Maclean 7-6(5), 2-6, 13-11.

After saving match points at 9-8 and 10-9 in the match tiebreaker, Tennessee earned one of its own at 11-10, but Auburn saved that one. Tennessee earned its second match point at 12-11, and converted it, although what appeared to be a miracle reflex volley by Harper that caught the sideline was hotly contested by Auburn, who thought the ball was not legally struck.

Asked about it at the press conference, Murgett and Maclean were reluctant to reveal what they thought had happened on that last shot.

"I thought at the time that it didn't come off right, a legal shot," said Maclean. "But I can't say until I've seen it."

"It's not really fair to talk about it until we've seen it back," said Murgett. "It's not the right time to talk about it until we've fully seen it I guess."

Walton and Harper did not address the long discussion at the end of the match, but acknowledged their good fortune in winning such a close match.

"There was just a few points difference," Walton said. "We honestly didn't play our best match today, I thought we played better earlier in the week....we knew we had to get as much energy as we could into the tiebreaker, because it's a coin flip, and we just happened to be on the right side on the coin today."

"Credit to Auburn," said Harper. "Great pair. We sort of dropped off the board in the second and when that second set finished, we just said balls to the wall, let's take this, and we got it."

Walton and Harper, both from Australia, are planning to return next year, with another doubles championship one of their goals. They are the third pair from Tennessee to win the men's doubles title, joining Rodney Harmon and Mel Purcell in 1980 and Hunter Reese and Mikelis Libietis in 2014.

Go to ncaa.com for women's singles, women's doubles, men's singles and men's doubles draws.

Three more Americans earned entry into the French Open with wins today, with Jenson Brooksby, Mackenzie McDonald and Hailey Baptiste joining Bjorn Fratangelo and Varvara Lepchenko, who qualified yesterday.

Brooksby saved three match points in his three-hour-plus 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 6-4 win over wild card Evan Furness of France to qualify for his first slam outside the US Open. He will play No. 24 seed Aslan Karatsev of Russia in the main draw. McDonald defeated Marco Trungelliti of Argentina 6-4, 6-4 and has been placed against Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland. Baptiste, who beat Julia Grabher of Austria 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, will play Anna Blinkova of Russia in the opening round.

Fratangelo will play Cameron Norrie of Great Britain, and Lepchenko's first round opponent is Shuai Zhang of China.

Play begins on Sunday in Paris.