[ColoradoTree]

In singles Arbuthnott beat Lord 7-6, 6-4 I believe (not certain). For the couple of games I watched online, she was the better player. Hitting more aggressively and moving Lord around and finally ending points by hitting a fast winner out of Lord's reach. I hope this reflects Arbuthnott's improvement from last year and not Lord's deterioration! Looking like we could have a strong 1-4 this year!

I'm hopeful for that strong 1-4 as well.  In the last few years, this team has done well more often because of its depth, with near-guaranteed wins at #5 and #6, and getting two more points from elsewhere in the lineup or in doubles.  I'm excited for some dominance at the top of the lineup! 

Really impressive from Arbuthnott, and oldalum, I tend to think it's much more about Arbuthnott's improvement than Lord slipping.  Emily had a great offseason, winning a $15K ITF tournament and making a semifinal in another, and winning a doubles title at a different $15K tournament.  From what little I've seen so far, Arbuthnott is playing more quickly and is more aggressive than she was last year, when her matches seemed to take forever to finish due to her tendency to wear other players down and force them to make errors, rather than dictating play and ending it sooner.  If she's unlocked that particular skill, then I'm really excited to see what she has in store for us this year. 

And guys?  Michaela Gordon could be Top 10 by the time this season is over.  My goodness!  Just crushed her new teammate Janice Shin, just like she's been crushing everyone.  I know Lele isn't one to throw freshmen in at the top of the lineup, and I'm not saying she should supplant Lord, but Gordon has a pretty strong case for #2 from where I sit.  She took a player (ןɐɔ's Anna Smith) who solidly beat our most consistent singles player last year (Higuchi), and she made her look inept.  Janice Shin had taken out two seeded players in tough 3-setters, including #48 Alyssa Tobita of Oregon, and Gordon steamrolled her. 

By making the finals, both Gordon and Arbuthnott will be in the singles draw at ITA Fall Nationals, while Lord's lofty preseason ranking and resume so far make her a likely at-large selection to that tournament.  These kinds of tournaments are very big for a player's individual ranking, given the quality opponents one faces, so it will be a big opportunity for all three players to take stock of where they fit with the nation's best.  We won't have a doubles team there, unfortunately, as no Stanford team met the automatic criteria, and the at-large selections will be made mostly from the regional runners-up, so that was a pivotal supertiebreak to decide the match between Arbuthnott/Gordon and Sangwan/Tobita (in more ways than the obvious, uh, "it decided the match" sense). 

The singles final is at 11am today, so I know what I'll be doing on my lunch hour!

[ColoradoTree]

In singles Arbuthnott beat Lord 7-6, 6-4 I believe (not certain). For the couple of games I watched online, she was the better player. Hitting more aggressively and moving Lord around and finally ending points by hitting a fast winner out of Lord's reach. I hope this reflects Arbuthnott's improvement from last year and not Lord's deterioration! Looking like we could have a strong 1-4 this year!

I'm hopeful for that strong 1-4 as well.  In the last few years, this team has done well more often because of its depth, with near-guaranteed wins at #5 and #6, and getting two more points from elsewhere in the lineup or in doubles.  I'm excited for some dominance at the top of the lineup! 

Really impressive from Arbuthnott, and oldalum, I tend to think it's much more about Arbuthnott's improvement than Lord slipping.  Emily had a great offseason, winning a $15K ITF tournament and making a semifinal in another, and winning a doubles title at a different $15K tournament.  From what little I've seen so far, Arbuthnott is playing more quickly and is more aggressive than she was last year, when her matches seemed to take forever to finish due to her tendency to wear other players down and force them to make errors, rather than dictating play and ending it sooner.  If she's unlocked that particular skill, then I'm really excited to see what she has in store for us this year. 

And guys?  Michaela Gordon could be Top 10 by the time this season is over.  My goodness!  Just crushed her new teammate Janice Shin, just like she's been crushing everyone.  I know Lele isn't one to throw freshmen in at the top of the lineup, and I'm not saying she should supplant Lord, but Gordon has a pretty strong case for #2 from where I sit.  She took a player (ןɐɔ's Anna Smith) who solidly beat our most consistent singles player last year (Higuchi), and she made her look inept.  Janice Shin had taken out two seeded players in tough 3-setters, including #48 Alyssa Tobita of Oregon, and Gordon steamrolled her. 

By making the finals, both Gordon and Arbuthnott will be in the singles draw at ITA Fall Nationals, while Lord's lofty preseason ranking and resume so far make her a likely at-large selection to that tournament.  These kinds of tournaments are very big for a player's individual ranking, given the quality opponents one faces, so it will be a big opportunity for all three players to take stock of where they fit with the nation's best.  We won't have a doubles team there, unfortunately, as no Stanford team met the automatic criteria, and the at-large selections will be made mostly from the regional runners-up, so that was a pivotal supertiebreak to decide the match between Arbuthnott/Gordon and Sangwan/Tobita (in more ways than the obvious, uh, "it decided the match" sense). 

The singles final is at 11am today, so I know what I'll be doing on my lunch hour!