[ColoradoTree]

Well, it looks like the fall season won't quite be over after Fall Nationals, at least for Michaela Gordon: https://www.usta.com/en/home/stay-curren...-bid-.html. 

She's a part of Team USA for the International Collegiate Team Competition (like a Fed/Davis/Ryder Cup for collegiate tennis, apparently), which takes place in Grenoble, France, from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. From what I can tell, she's the first Stanford woman to be selected for this event for Team USA (who started going to it in 2008). Team USA has won 9 times in 12 outings (though the tournament has been held 14 times). Also on the team is UCLA senior Jada Hart and UNC senior Alexa Graham. Three men join the team as well, including our own Alexandre Rotsaert, Illinois senior Aleks Kovacevic, and UCLA junior Keegan Smith. 

Also in the tournament are Belgium, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, and Italy. Perhaps we'll see Arbuthnott named to Team GB (though she wasn't last year)? We could see some familiar names on some of those other teams, like WSU's Michaela Bayerlova for Germany, or Texas's Bianca and Anna Turati playing for Italy. 

The format is two women's singles matches, two men's singles matches, a women's doubles match, a men's doubles match, and a mixed doubles match. The first to four matches wins, though they usually play it out until the final itself, apparently.

Team USA, led by our own Michaela Gordon, won the 2019 edition of the weirdly-named Master'U BNP Paribas championship (sort of a collegiate Davis Cup and Fed Cup mixed together) with a 4-1 win over Great Britain, which was led by our own Emily Arbuthnott.  

In the championship, Gordon beat Arbuthnott 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in the women's #1 singles match, which gave Team USA a 2-1 lead. Team USA then won the men's #1 singles match and the men's doubles to complete the 4-1 win, leaving the women's doubles and the mixed doubles unplayed. 

Gordon played #1 singles all week, which is notable, given that the other women on the team were #8 Alexa Graham of UNC and #9 Jada Hart of UCLA. Gordon beat France's Margaux Orance in the opener, 6-3, 6-4, lost to Ireland's Julie Byrne 6-2, 7-6, and beat Arbuthnott in the final. (Ireland's Byrne is a senior at Northwestern, where she played primarily #2 singles last year, but is currently unranked this year.) Arbuthnott won her matches against Belgium and Italy, losing only to Gordon. I believe she also won a couple of doubles matches based on Twitter, but the official tournament website is down, so I can't confirm. 

But good news for Arbuthnott that she played well all week (and that she played well enough to push Michaela to a third, though Michaela ended it quickly at that point), and good news for Michaela to have earned the #1 spot on that team over two comparable players (presumably with some practice match wins) and to take home a trophy.

(FYI, Stanford's Alexandre Rotsaert played for Team USA as well, winning his match at #2 singles and as part of a mixed doubles pair with Jada Hart against Ireland. He dropped a close match as part of the men's doubles team vs. France, and he didn't play against Great Britain.)

[ColoradoTree]

Well, it looks like the fall season won't quite be over after Fall Nationals, at least for Michaela Gordon: https://www.usta.com/en/home/stay-curren...-bid-.html. 

She's a part of Team USA for the International Collegiate Team Competition (like a Fed/Davis/Ryder Cup for collegiate tennis, apparently), which takes place in Grenoble, France, from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. From what I can tell, she's the first Stanford woman to be selected for this event for Team USA (who started going to it in 2008). Team USA has won 9 times in 12 outings (though the tournament has been held 14 times). Also on the team is UCLA senior Jada Hart and UNC senior Alexa Graham. Three men join the team as well, including our own Alexandre Rotsaert, Illinois senior Aleks Kovacevic, and UCLA junior Keegan Smith. 

Also in the tournament are Belgium, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, and Italy. Perhaps we'll see Arbuthnott named to Team GB (though she wasn't last year)? We could see some familiar names on some of those other teams, like WSU's Michaela Bayerlova for Germany, or Texas's Bianca and Anna Turati playing for Italy. 

The format is two women's singles matches, two men's singles matches, a women's doubles match, a men's doubles match, and a mixed doubles match. The first to four matches wins, though they usually play it out until the final itself, apparently.

Team USA, led by our own Michaela Gordon, won the 2019 edition of the weirdly-named Master'U BNP Paribas championship (sort of a collegiate Davis Cup and Fed Cup mixed together) with a 4-1 win over Great Britain, which was led by our own Emily Arbuthnott.  

In the championship, Gordon beat Arbuthnott 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in the women's #1 singles match, which gave Team USA a 2-1 lead. Team USA then won the men's #1 singles match and the men's doubles to complete the 4-1 win, leaving the women's doubles and the mixed doubles unplayed. 

Gordon played #1 singles all week, which is notable, given that the other women on the team were #8 Alexa Graham of UNC and #9 Jada Hart of UCLA. Gordon beat France's Margaux Orance in the opener, 6-3, 6-4, lost to Ireland's Julie Byrne 6-2, 7-6, and beat Arbuthnott in the final. (Ireland's Byrne is a senior at Northwestern, where she played primarily #2 singles last year, but is currently unranked this year.) Arbuthnott won her matches against Belgium and Italy, losing only to Gordon. I believe she also won a couple of doubles matches based on Twitter, but the official tournament website is down, so I can't confirm. 

But good news for Arbuthnott that she played well all week (and that she played well enough to push Michaela to a third, though Michaela ended it quickly at that point), and good news for Michaela to have earned the #1 spot on that team over two comparable players (presumably with some practice match wins) and to take home a trophy.

(FYI, Stanford's Alexandre Rotsaert played for Team USA as well, winning his match at #2 singles and as part of a mixed doubles pair with Jada Hart against Ireland. He dropped a close match as part of the men's doubles team vs. France, and he didn't play against Great Britain.)