12-17-2018, 09:23 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-17-2018, 09:58 AM by ColoradoTree.)
FYI, Gordon was placed in a group with Makenna Jones, Kelly Chen, and Brienne Minor.
She lost the opener to Makenna Jones 7-5, 5-7, 13-11 (that's a match tiebreak, not a Wimbledon-style decisive set), but came back to roll over Michigan's Brienne Minor, 6-2, 6-3, and held on in a tight one to beat Duke's Kelly Chen 7-6, 2-6, 10-4 to close out round robin play. Given the other results (see below), that put Gordon into the semifinals! As I said above, this is a great result, and my only hope is that these match wins count for rankings purposes, because it'll get Gordon right back up where she should be. Even if they don't, though, it's a great confidence boost for Gordon to close out 2018.
Round Robin
First Match
Jones d. Gordon 7-5, 5-7, 13-11
Chen d. Minor 6-3, 6-4
Second Match
Chen d. Jones 6-0, 6-1 (um, what?)
Gordon d. Minor 6-2, 6-3
Third Match
Gordon d. Chen 7-6, 2-6, 10-4
Minor d. Jones 3-6, 6-3, 10-6
Thus, Gordon and Chen each finish 2-1 to advance to the semifinals (that match tiebreak was crucial for Gordon), while Minor and Jones both went 1-2. Tennis is a weird sport sometimes. Gordon loses to Jones (which is a perfectly fine loss, as Jones is the #2 player in the country), but Jones loses to both other players, and Gordon beats both of them. *shrugs*
Semifinals
Advancing from the other group are Pepperdine's Ashley Lahey and Gonzaga's Sophie Whittle, and those matches are going on right now! Gordon is playing Lahey on Court 3, while Chen and Whittle are matched up on Court 1. You can live stream the matches here: https://www.ustanationalcampus.com/en/home/watch.html
Live scoring is available here:
http://www2.tennisticker.de/usa/ustanc/s...ournid=385
FYI, the streaming is a couple minutes behind live scoring, so here's where things stand at the moment:
Gordon won her first set 6-4, and just broke Lahey to go up 3-1 in the second!
Over at the other semifinal, Whittle and Chen traded 6-3 sets and will play a decider, though it's unclear at the moment whether they've transitioned from playing a deciding match tiebreaker or whether they'll play a full set.
Gordon consolidates the break and she's up 4-1, with Lahey to serve to stop the bleeding. And she does just that, so Gordon will serve up a set and a break at 4-2.
No problem, and it's 5-2. Gordon's serve is working well, and she holds with ease, moving Lahey around the court and forcing Lahey into tough shots that lead to errors. She recognizes Lahey is getting a little frustrated and not quite hitting her spots, so she's not playing too aggressively, but still using the full court. A couple of those points were just sloppy from Lahey, but the final point was clinical from Gordon. I'm sure Gordon has noticed Lahey's not as sharp as she can be (Lahey is a top 10-caliber player), so it's sort of like a batter seeing a pitcher that's struggling with control--stay in there, but make him throw strikes.
And there it is! Gordon comes back from 30-15 down to win three straight points to break Lahey to close out the match 6-4, 6-2! What a great run this is for Michaela. Those Chen and Minor wins are great for rankings (if they count), and Lahey's ranking will certainly climb over the course of the year, though perhaps not to the #4 preseason ranking she held, which will keep making this result look better.
The third set in the Chen-Whittle semifinal rages on, with Whittle about to serve with the set tied at 3-3. Let's see that one go the distance! The final will be at 7am Pacific tomorrow, so if you want to watch, you'll have to get up early. If any alums don't have to work and live in the Orlando area, the USTA National Campus is a sprawling monument to tennis with hundreds of courts, so it would be a cool place to check out anyway.
She lost the opener to Makenna Jones 7-5, 5-7, 13-11 (that's a match tiebreak, not a Wimbledon-style decisive set), but came back to roll over Michigan's Brienne Minor, 6-2, 6-3, and held on in a tight one to beat Duke's Kelly Chen 7-6, 2-6, 10-4 to close out round robin play. Given the other results (see below), that put Gordon into the semifinals! As I said above, this is a great result, and my only hope is that these match wins count for rankings purposes, because it'll get Gordon right back up where she should be. Even if they don't, though, it's a great confidence boost for Gordon to close out 2018.
Round Robin
First Match
Jones d. Gordon 7-5, 5-7, 13-11
Chen d. Minor 6-3, 6-4
Second Match
Chen d. Jones 6-0, 6-1 (um, what?)
Gordon d. Minor 6-2, 6-3
Third Match
Gordon d. Chen 7-6, 2-6, 10-4
Minor d. Jones 3-6, 6-3, 10-6
Thus, Gordon and Chen each finish 2-1 to advance to the semifinals (that match tiebreak was crucial for Gordon), while Minor and Jones both went 1-2. Tennis is a weird sport sometimes. Gordon loses to Jones (which is a perfectly fine loss, as Jones is the #2 player in the country), but Jones loses to both other players, and Gordon beats both of them. *shrugs*
Semifinals
Advancing from the other group are Pepperdine's Ashley Lahey and Gonzaga's Sophie Whittle, and those matches are going on right now! Gordon is playing Lahey on Court 3, while Chen and Whittle are matched up on Court 1. You can live stream the matches here: https://www.ustanationalcampus.com/en/home/watch.html
Live scoring is available here:
http://www2.tennisticker.de/usa/ustanc/s...ournid=385
FYI, the streaming is a couple minutes behind live scoring, so here's where things stand at the moment:
Gordon won her first set 6-4, and just broke Lahey to go up 3-1 in the second!
Over at the other semifinal, Whittle and Chen traded 6-3 sets and will play a decider, though it's unclear at the moment whether they've transitioned from playing a deciding match tiebreaker or whether they'll play a full set.
Gordon consolidates the break and she's up 4-1, with Lahey to serve to stop the bleeding. And she does just that, so Gordon will serve up a set and a break at 4-2.
No problem, and it's 5-2. Gordon's serve is working well, and she holds with ease, moving Lahey around the court and forcing Lahey into tough shots that lead to errors. She recognizes Lahey is getting a little frustrated and not quite hitting her spots, so she's not playing too aggressively, but still using the full court. A couple of those points were just sloppy from Lahey, but the final point was clinical from Gordon. I'm sure Gordon has noticed Lahey's not as sharp as she can be (Lahey is a top 10-caliber player), so it's sort of like a batter seeing a pitcher that's struggling with control--stay in there, but make him throw strikes.
And there it is! Gordon comes back from 30-15 down to win three straight points to break Lahey to close out the match 6-4, 6-2! What a great run this is for Michaela. Those Chen and Minor wins are great for rankings (if they count), and Lahey's ranking will certainly climb over the course of the year, though perhaps not to the #4 preseason ranking she held, which will keep making this result look better.
The third set in the Chen-Whittle semifinal rages on, with Whittle about to serve with the set tied at 3-3. Let's see that one go the distance! The final will be at 7am Pacific tomorrow, so if you want to watch, you'll have to get up early. If any alums don't have to work and live in the Orlando area, the USTA National Campus is a sprawling monument to tennis with hundreds of courts, so it would be a cool place to check out anyway.