Bears Head South for All-American Championships

BERKELEY – California is sending four Golden Bears – including All-Americans Zsofi Susanyi and Anett Schutting – to compete in the Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships that run from Tuesday, Oct. 1, to Sunday, Oct. 6, in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Sophomores Klara Fabikova and Lynn Chi will join Schutting, a senior, and Susanyi, a junior, at the tournament at the Riviera Tennis Club.

Singles semifinalists, doubles finalists and consolation champions from the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships will receive automatic entry into the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Nov. 7-10 in Flushing, N.Y.

At the All-American, Susanyi and Schutting – who are ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in the ITA preseason singles poll – will play in main draw singles that start on Thursday. Chi, ranked 44th, and Fabikova, ranked 23rd, are in the qualifying singles draw that starts on Tuesday. Fabikova, who is the fourth seed for the qualifying tournament, is also on a short list of alternates for the main draw, but several players would have to drop out on Monday before she would move into the main draw. Otherwise, Fabikova will play Oklahoma’s 47th-ranked Hermon Brhane in the first round of qualifying. Chi plays Arizona’s 40th-ranked Lacey Smith in the first round.

In doubles, the 11th-ranked duo of Chi and Schutting is in the main draw, which also starts on Thursday, while the 25th-ranked team of Susanyi and Fabikova starts out in the qualifying draw. Fabikova and Susanyi are the seventh-seeded team in qualifying and face Duke’s 31st-ranked Ester Goldfeld and Annie Mulholland in the first round.

A singles player or doubles tandem must win three consecutive matches to stay alive and move into the main draw, which includes eight spots for qualifying singles players and four spots for qualifying doubles teams.

Scouting the Bears

• Susanyi won the Blue Flight singles title at the recent Cal Nike Invitational, beating Schutting, 6-1, 6-1, in the final
• Each Bear won four matches before the Blue final
•  Among Susanyi’s other notable opponents were Chi, the seventh seed who fell to her teammate, 6-4, 6-4, in the semifinals, and Saint Mary’s 22nd-ranked Jenny Jullien, the fifth seed, who lost to Susanyi, 7-6(5), 7-5, in the quarters; Jullien is also in the qualifying draw at the All-American
•  Also in the Cal Nike Invitational, Schutting beat two players who are in the qualifying draw in Pacific Palisades in USF’s 57th-ranked Andrea Ka, who lost to Schutting, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-1, in the quarters, and Santa Clara’s fourth-seeded and 20th-ranked Katie Le, who fell 6-0, 6-3, in the semis in Berkeley
• The second-seeded team of Susanyi and Fabikova upset the top-seeded Chi/Schutting in the Blue Flight doubles final, 8-6
• Former All-American Amanda Augustus (Cal ’99) is in her seventh season as head coach of her alma mater
• Associate head coach Cordell Ho (Cal ’72) is in his 17th season working with Cal tennis
• Former Cal head coach Jan Brogan is the Bears’ volunteer assistant coach; the legendary coach led the program for 29 years and retired after the 2006-07 season

Scouting the Field

•  USC’s top-ranked Sabrina Santamaria is among the many talented players in main draw singles
• Other notable players in main draw singles include UCLA’s second-ranked Robin Anderson, Georgia’s third-ranked Lauren Herring, Baylor’s sixth-ranked Ema Burgic, Clemson’s seventh-ranked Yana Koroleva, Stanford’s eighth-ranked Krista Hardebeck and Virginia’s ninth-ranked Julia Elbaba
•  The doubles field features several talented teams including defending NCAA champion and top-ranked Santamaria and Kaitlyn Christian of USC, Georgia’s second-ranked Kate Fuller and Silvia Garcia, Michigan’s third-ranked Brooke Bolender and Emina Bektas, Oklahoma’s fourth-ranked Hermon Brhane and Whitney Ritchie, and a host of others

Next Time

Cal competes in the Saint Mary’s Invitational scheduled for Oct. 11-13 in Moraga, Calif.