[ColoradoTree]

Arbuthnott rolled over Michigan's Lommer, 6-1, 6-2.  Not much to say about it other than Arbuthnott took care of a lower-ranked opponent with ease (albeit one who has had a good fall, winning the Midwest Regional). She moves on to face Georgia freshman Katarina Jokic, the #6 seed, who had a similarly easy result, 6-2, 6-0 over UCLA's Ayan Broomfield (who, ranked at #52, is no slouch, so Arbuthnott certainly has her hands full tomorrow). 

In her first round match, Michaela Gordon won 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 over a fellow highly-touted freshman, Duke's Kelly Chen.  Gordon struggled early, going to decision point (40-all) in her first three service games, and losing all three, causing her to fall behind 5-0 in the first set.  (If you needed evidence that no-ad scoring in college tennis has an impact, here you go.  It makes what could have been a lengthy game with several deuces into a lopsided scoreline when the tennis being played doesn't necessarily reflect that scoreline.)  It's unclear if she just took a little time to warm up, but in any event, she woke up, rattling off four straight games to get the match to 5-4 before Chen finally stopped the bleeding and held to take the first set 6-4.  There was plenty of drama in the second set as well, though not in as lopsided a fashion as the first, though the games were close in the second set as well.  Gordon got a break of serve to go up 4-2, but with the chance to win the set on her serve, up 5-3, she was broken to get the set back on serve.  But instead of folding, she broke back to take the second set 6-4 and push the match to a decider.  And that's where Gordon started to assert herself far more, holding at love to open the set, getting an easy break to go up 2-0, consolidating to go up 3-0, getting another easy break to get to 4-0, and holding to 5-0.  Chen won a deciding point on her serve to get on the board, and with another chance to serve for a set, Gordon was broken at love to make it 5-2.  But just as she did in the second set, she immediately broke back to win the match, showing an impressive ability to shake off small letdowns and take it out on her opponent.  Whether it's better conditioning or finally getting into the feel of the match, Gordon certainly separated herself in the final frame, setting aside the hiccup at the end. 

Gordon's opponent tomorrow will be Ohio State freshman Shiori Fukuda, who won a close match (6-4, 7-5) over a Top 50 player from Vanderbilt.  Interestingly, Fukuda lost to Michigan's Chiara Lommer (Arbuthnott's first round opponent) in the Midwest Regional final, for those of you that put stock in the transitive property as applied to sports. 

In doubles, Arbuthnott/Gordon will play their first round match this afternoon, nominally at 2:15pm, but they're the 5th match scheduled, so depending on how quickly the men's singles matches go, they might need to wait a bit. 

Elsewhere in the first round, there were some interesting results.  #1 seed Anna Danilina (Florida) lost in rather convincing fashion to Oklahoma State's Vladica Babic (who is the player Taylor Davidson beat at #2 singles in the NCAA team championship match two years ago).  ןɐɔ's #1 player, 3rd-seeded Karla Popovic, lost a 3-set match to another Top 20 player, Ole Miss's Adrianna Hartono.  And the preseason #4, UNC's Sara Daavettila, fell to Vanderbilt's Fernanda Contreras, who is ranked far lower, but due to her excellent fall season to this point, was seeded while Daavettila wasn't.  In other Pac-12 news, U$C's Gabby Smith lost to Michigan's Kate Fahey in a battle of Top 15 players, ןɐɔ freshman Anna Bright got crushed 6-0, 6-0 to the 11th seed from Duke, ןɐɔ's Olivia Hauger won a three-set match over an unranked Kentucky Wildcat, and Colorado freshman Linda Huang lost very quickly, 6-0, 6-1 to another Duke Blue Devil.  At the time Gordon's match finished, UCLA's Ena Shibahara (the #1 ranked player and #4 seed here) was up a set but having trouble putting away the #122-ranked player in the country in the second, and UW's Stacey Fung (ranked #18) was up 4-0 in the third set against UNC's Jessie Aney (#22), one of the more even matchups of the day, rankings-wise.

UPDATE: Fung beat Aney 6-1 in the third, an impressive showing for Washington's #1 player.  Meanwhile, Shibahara lost her second set, and it took her a third-set tiebreaker to win her match, but she moves on.

[ColoradoTree]

Arbuthnott rolled over Michigan's Lommer, 6-1, 6-2.  Not much to say about it other than Arbuthnott took care of a lower-ranked opponent with ease (albeit one who has had a good fall, winning the Midwest Regional). She moves on to face Georgia freshman Katarina Jokic, the #6 seed, who had a similarly easy result, 6-2, 6-0 over UCLA's Ayan Broomfield (who, ranked at #52, is no slouch, so Arbuthnott certainly has her hands full tomorrow). 

In her first round match, Michaela Gordon won 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 over a fellow highly-touted freshman, Duke's Kelly Chen.  Gordon struggled early, going to decision point (40-all) in her first three service games, and losing all three, causing her to fall behind 5-0 in the first set.  (If you needed evidence that no-ad scoring in college tennis has an impact, here you go.  It makes what could have been a lengthy game with several deuces into a lopsided scoreline when the tennis being played doesn't necessarily reflect that scoreline.)  It's unclear if she just took a little time to warm up, but in any event, she woke up, rattling off four straight games to get the match to 5-4 before Chen finally stopped the bleeding and held to take the first set 6-4.  There was plenty of drama in the second set as well, though not in as lopsided a fashion as the first, though the games were close in the second set as well.  Gordon got a break of serve to go up 4-2, but with the chance to win the set on her serve, up 5-3, she was broken to get the set back on serve.  But instead of folding, she broke back to take the second set 6-4 and push the match to a decider.  And that's where Gordon started to assert herself far more, holding at love to open the set, getting an easy break to go up 2-0, consolidating to go up 3-0, getting another easy break to get to 4-0, and holding to 5-0.  Chen won a deciding point on her serve to get on the board, and with another chance to serve for a set, Gordon was broken at love to make it 5-2.  But just as she did in the second set, she immediately broke back to win the match, showing an impressive ability to shake off small letdowns and take it out on her opponent.  Whether it's better conditioning or finally getting into the feel of the match, Gordon certainly separated herself in the final frame, setting aside the hiccup at the end. 

Gordon's opponent tomorrow will be Ohio State freshman Shiori Fukuda, who won a close match (6-4, 7-5) over a Top 50 player from Vanderbilt.  Interestingly, Fukuda lost to Michigan's Chiara Lommer (Arbuthnott's first round opponent) in the Midwest Regional final, for those of you that put stock in the transitive property as applied to sports. 

In doubles, Arbuthnott/Gordon will play their first round match this afternoon, nominally at 2:15pm, but they're the 5th match scheduled, so depending on how quickly the men's singles matches go, they might need to wait a bit. 

Elsewhere in the first round, there were some interesting results.  #1 seed Anna Danilina (Florida) lost in rather convincing fashion to Oklahoma State's Vladica Babic (who is the player Taylor Davidson beat at #2 singles in the NCAA team championship match two years ago).  ןɐɔ's #1 player, 3rd-seeded Karla Popovic, lost a 3-set match to another Top 20 player, Ole Miss's Adrianna Hartono.  And the preseason #4, UNC's Sara Daavettila, fell to Vanderbilt's Fernanda Contreras, who is ranked far lower, but due to her excellent fall season to this point, was seeded while Daavettila wasn't.  In other Pac-12 news, U$C's Gabby Smith lost to Michigan's Kate Fahey in a battle of Top 15 players, ןɐɔ freshman Anna Bright got crushed 6-0, 6-0 to the 11th seed from Duke, ןɐɔ's Olivia Hauger won a three-set match over an unranked Kentucky Wildcat, and Colorado freshman Linda Huang lost very quickly, 6-0, 6-1 to another Duke Blue Devil.  At the time Gordon's match finished, UCLA's Ena Shibahara (the #1 ranked player and #4 seed here) was up a set but having trouble putting away the #122-ranked player in the country in the second, and UW's Stacey Fung (ranked #18) was up 4-0 in the third set against UNC's Jessie Aney (#22), one of the more even matchups of the day, rankings-wise.

UPDATE: Fung beat Aney 6-1 in the third, an impressive showing for Washington's #1 player.  Meanwhile, Shibahara lost her second set, and it took her a third-set tiebreaker to win her match, but she moves on.