11-05-2021, 12:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 11-05-2021, 12:35 PM by ColoradoTree.)
With that win, Ma advances to play 2nd-seeded Daria Frayman of Princeton in the quarterfinals at 2:45pm this afternoon.
Frayman had a bit of an easier time in her R16 match, beating Tennessee's Rebeka Mertena (the preseason #55 player) 6-0, 7-6. Frayman has been something of a surprise so far this fall--she played well her freshman year in the truncated spring 2020 season (beating USC's Salma Ewing was a highlight) and ended the year ranked #109, but with no season for Princeton last year, it wasn't clear what to expect this year. Well, she's made quite a jump and has a number of ranked wins already this fall: over #9 Natasha Subhash (UVA) 6-3, 6-2 at a September invitational, over #32 Cameron Morra (UNC) in three and #119 Jaeda Daniel of NC State (who is better than that ranking) in straights at the same event. She then won the Northeast regional title over her teammate, highly-regarded freshman Victoria Hu and beat #20 Valeriya Zeleva of UCF at another fall invitational. And that's not to mention dispatching highly touted UVA freshman Elaine Chervinsky 6-1, 6-2 in the first round here and getting past Mertena.
You picked the right time to tune in! And agreed--she stays very level, regardless of how well or poorly she's playing. She's not, say, Caroline Lampl out there pumping her fist and shouting after key points. But she also doesn't seem to get down on herself like Arbuthnott (or Shin) would. Sometimes when she was trailing and would miss a shot, Arbuthnott would just walk slumped-over, looking like Eeyore out there. Ma is just even keel, the whole time. Gordon is often like that, too, though you see a bit more emotion from her, positive and negative, than you do from Ma. Now she'll get a couple hours of rest and icing her legs before she has to go again. Then doubles tonight.
In other results from Fall Nationals, SMC's Mariia Kozyreva knocked off top seed and 2nd-ranked Abbey Forbes of UCLA, which will boost Kozyreva's ranking by a fair bit, which will in turn boost Ma's ranking on account of beating her at Northwest Regionals. Kozyreva gets USC's Cayetano next, who followed up her win over Yepifanova with a straight sets win over FSU's Petra Hule, who will likely play #2 for the Seminoles this year. The higher-ranked Cayetano gets, the less Yepifanova's loss to her costs her, and the higher Kozyreva gets, the greater the boost for Ma's ranking, so either result gets us some value, but it's a lot easier to root for Kozyreva than literally anyone from USC.
Anyway, the courts at Taube are dry but no one seems to be playing on them, so not sure what the plans for this invitational are.
Frayman had a bit of an easier time in her R16 match, beating Tennessee's Rebeka Mertena (the preseason #55 player) 6-0, 7-6. Frayman has been something of a surprise so far this fall--she played well her freshman year in the truncated spring 2020 season (beating USC's Salma Ewing was a highlight) and ended the year ranked #109, but with no season for Princeton last year, it wasn't clear what to expect this year. Well, she's made quite a jump and has a number of ranked wins already this fall: over #9 Natasha Subhash (UVA) 6-3, 6-2 at a September invitational, over #32 Cameron Morra (UNC) in three and #119 Jaeda Daniel of NC State (who is better than that ranking) in straights at the same event. She then won the Northeast regional title over her teammate, highly-regarded freshman Victoria Hu and beat #20 Valeriya Zeleva of UCF at another fall invitational. And that's not to mention dispatching highly touted UVA freshman Elaine Chervinsky 6-1, 6-2 in the first round here and getting past Mertena.
(11-05-2021, 12:01 PM)magnus Wrote: Exciting. Tuned in the last half of the third set.
Was watching with her at the far end and it seems like she plays very matter of fact. No wasted energy, not much emotion. Don't get me wrong, she made some pretty impressive shots and saves, but it's hard to get a gauge of her energy/excitement level from her play (or maybe that's just because the view from a tiny screen misses that detail.
Onward!
You picked the right time to tune in! And agreed--she stays very level, regardless of how well or poorly she's playing. She's not, say, Caroline Lampl out there pumping her fist and shouting after key points. But she also doesn't seem to get down on herself like Arbuthnott (or Shin) would. Sometimes when she was trailing and would miss a shot, Arbuthnott would just walk slumped-over, looking like Eeyore out there. Ma is just even keel, the whole time. Gordon is often like that, too, though you see a bit more emotion from her, positive and negative, than you do from Ma. Now she'll get a couple hours of rest and icing her legs before she has to go again. Then doubles tonight.
In other results from Fall Nationals, SMC's Mariia Kozyreva knocked off top seed and 2nd-ranked Abbey Forbes of UCLA, which will boost Kozyreva's ranking by a fair bit, which will in turn boost Ma's ranking on account of beating her at Northwest Regionals. Kozyreva gets USC's Cayetano next, who followed up her win over Yepifanova with a straight sets win over FSU's Petra Hule, who will likely play #2 for the Seminoles this year. The higher-ranked Cayetano gets, the less Yepifanova's loss to her costs her, and the higher Kozyreva gets, the greater the boost for Ma's ranking, so either result gets us some value, but it's a lot easier to root for Kozyreva than literally anyone from USC.
Anyway, the courts at Taube are dry but no one seems to be playing on them, so not sure what the plans for this invitational are.