11-04-2021, 10:44 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-04-2021, 10:49 AM by ColoradoTree.)
Ma holds at love and it's a 6-3, 6-1 win over 7th-seeded Snow Han of USC! That's an upset by seed (and thus by current interim ranking), but not by UTR. If you'd polled the coaches at the match and forced them to pick a winner before the match, I'd bet nearly all would've said Ma. Fall rankings are a question of the opportunities you've had and whether you've capitalized on them. Han has done so before now, to her credit, so she earned that seed. But Ma just hasn't had the same opportunities. She's getting them now.
She'll get the winner of the match between UNC sophomore Fiona Crawley (somehow unseeded here despite her #35 preseason ranking and winning her singles flight at the Carolina Regional to qualify) and LSU junior Safiya Carrington (preseason #96). I would've picked Crawley in straight sets in that one, but it's into the third now with Crawley up a double break, so she could've just been shaking off rust in the first set, as she now leads 3-6, 6-2, 4-1.
Crawley sees it out, 6-1 in the third. Ma vs. Crawley tomorrow will be absolutely outstanding.
She'll get the winner of the match between UNC sophomore Fiona Crawley (somehow unseeded here despite her #35 preseason ranking and winning her singles flight at the Carolina Regional to qualify) and LSU junior Safiya Carrington (preseason #96). I would've picked Crawley in straight sets in that one, but it's into the third now with Crawley up a double break, so she could've just been shaking off rust in the first set, as she now leads 3-6, 6-2, 4-1.
Crawley sees it out, 6-1 in the third. Ma vs. Crawley tomorrow will be absolutely outstanding.