11-03-2021, 09:25 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-04-2021, 01:22 PM by ColoradoTree.)
The Fall Nationals draws are out, and Connie Ma and Alexandra Yepifanova both face seeds in the first round, though the seeds do not appear related to the preseason rankings and must instead be based on an unpublished interim set of rankings that takes into account regional performance and other fall tournament performance. Here are the seeds:
(1) Abigail Forbes, Jr., UCLA (preseason #2)
(2) Daria Frayman, Jr., Princeton (unranked preseason but has had a good fall)
(3) Sarah Hamner, Fr., South Carolina (#1 newcomer; won All-Americans)
(4) Lisa Zaar, Jr., Pepperdine (preseason #53, but won SW regional in impressive fashion)
(5) Eryn Cayetano, USC (preseason #56 and expected to be USC's #2, but she had an amazing run through qualifying and the main draw into the semis at All-Americans in early October, so that explains the seed)
(6) Alexa Noel, So., Iowa (preseason #12)
(7) Snow Han, Fr., USC (not ranked as a newcomer but had a really impressive regional tournament over some top players)
(8) Ayana Akli, Jr., South Carolina (preseason #29, made the main draw at All-Americans and had a good run in the Carolina regional)
Meanwhile, the preseason #7 and #8 players are unseeded. So, to be clear, the seeded players aren't necessarily the ones that were expected to be the best this year based on body of work, UTR, etc. They've had a good fall where they've gotten some good wins. Stanford (for reasons as yet unknown) decided not to play at All-Americans this year, so that's a ton of good matches that we don't have under our belts. In other words, ignore the seeds--all bets are off in this draw.
Thursday schedule:
Singles Round of 32
9:00am: Ma vs. (7) Snow Han, USC (Han is a redshirt freshman from China and boasts an impressive junior resume)
11:15am: Yepifanova vs. (5) Eryn Cayetano, USC (Cayetano should play #2 for USC this year behind Ewing, so this might be a preview of the regular season, though there was so much movement atop USC's lineup last year that Cayetano might be their #1)
A good day to show whether we'll be better than USC this year, which looks really tough on paper. It's going to be a good year for the top Pac-12 teams, you guys.
Doubles Round of 32
3:00pm: Blake/Ma vs. Collard/Shaikh, UVA
4:30pm: Madurawe/Yepifanova vs. Cross/Rice, Arkansas
Links for live video and scoring aren't up yet, so I'll update this tomorrow once those are available.
Thursday Results:
Singles Round of 32
Ma def. (7) Snow Han (USC) 6-3, 6-1
(5) Eryn Cayetano (USC) def. Yepifanova 7-5, 6-4
Doubles Round of 32
3:00pm: Blake/Ma vs. Collard/Shaikh, UVA
4:30pm: Madurawe/Yepifanova vs. Cross/Rice, Arkansas
(1) Abigail Forbes, Jr., UCLA (preseason #2)
(2) Daria Frayman, Jr., Princeton (unranked preseason but has had a good fall)
(3) Sarah Hamner, Fr., South Carolina (#1 newcomer; won All-Americans)
(4) Lisa Zaar, Jr., Pepperdine (preseason #53, but won SW regional in impressive fashion)
(5) Eryn Cayetano, USC (preseason #56 and expected to be USC's #2, but she had an amazing run through qualifying and the main draw into the semis at All-Americans in early October, so that explains the seed)
(6) Alexa Noel, So., Iowa (preseason #12)
(7) Snow Han, Fr., USC (not ranked as a newcomer but had a really impressive regional tournament over some top players)
(8) Ayana Akli, Jr., South Carolina (preseason #29, made the main draw at All-Americans and had a good run in the Carolina regional)
Meanwhile, the preseason #7 and #8 players are unseeded. So, to be clear, the seeded players aren't necessarily the ones that were expected to be the best this year based on body of work, UTR, etc. They've had a good fall where they've gotten some good wins. Stanford (for reasons as yet unknown) decided not to play at All-Americans this year, so that's a ton of good matches that we don't have under our belts. In other words, ignore the seeds--all bets are off in this draw.
Thursday schedule:
Singles Round of 32
9:00am: Ma vs. (7) Snow Han, USC (Han is a redshirt freshman from China and boasts an impressive junior resume)
11:15am: Yepifanova vs. (5) Eryn Cayetano, USC (Cayetano should play #2 for USC this year behind Ewing, so this might be a preview of the regular season, though there was so much movement atop USC's lineup last year that Cayetano might be their #1)
A good day to show whether we'll be better than USC this year, which looks really tough on paper. It's going to be a good year for the top Pac-12 teams, you guys.
Doubles Round of 32
3:00pm: Blake/Ma vs. Collard/Shaikh, UVA
4:30pm: Madurawe/Yepifanova vs. Cross/Rice, Arkansas
Links for live video and scoring aren't up yet, so I'll update this tomorrow once those are available.
Thursday Results:
Singles Round of 32
Ma def. (7) Snow Han (USC) 6-3, 6-1
(5) Eryn Cayetano (USC) def. Yepifanova 7-5, 6-4
Doubles Round of 32
3:00pm: Blake/Ma vs. Collard/Shaikh, UVA
4:30pm: Madurawe/Yepifanova vs. Cross/Rice, Arkansas
