No. 20 Cal Beats Ducks To Reach Pac-12 Semifinals

SAN DIEGO – Julia Rosenqvist led third-seeded California women's tennis to a 4-1 victory over sixth-seeded Oregon in Saturday's Pac-12 Championship quarterfinals at the Barnes Tennis Center. The 20th-ranked Golden Bears advanced to play 25th-ranked and second-seeded Stanford in the semifinals on Sunday at 12 p.m.
 
Rosenqvist, a senior, topped the Ducks' Rifanty Kahfiani, 7-6(3), 6-4, to clinch Saturday's win, which improved Cal's record to 15-6. Oregon – which also lost to Cal, 4-3, on April 2 in the regular season – now has a 13-8 record.
 
In doubles, the Cal pair of freshman Jada Bui and sophomore Erin Richardson was dominant on court three, defeating Julia Eshet and Allison Mulville, 6-1. Sophomores Valentina Ivanov and Haley Giavara clinched the doubles point when they beat Kahfiani and Janice Tjen, 6-4, on court one.
 
"We knew Oregon had played good doubles this year," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said, "so we came out prepared for that. Even though they used a couple of new pairings since last time, we adjusted well. Winning the doubles point was critical.
 
"That led into singles. On every singles court, whether we won the first set or lost it, we were playing intentional, focused, aggressive tennis, and we did a good job."
 
Senior Anna Bright gave the Bears a 2-0 lead when she bested Eshet, 6-1, 6-1, at court-five singles.
 
The Ducks pulled within one point of Cal when Tjen, ranked 36th, beat Cal's 62nd-ranked Giavara on court one, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
 
Bui followed with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 win over Uxia Martinez Moral on court three to give Cal a 3-1 lead, before Rosenqvist ended the match with her court-two result.
 
"I was being very aggressive from the start of both sets and started myself of 5-2 in both sets," Rosenqvist said. "I let off the gas a bit, though it was still close in every game. In the end I was the better player."
 
The Pac-12 Championship is normally played at the Ojai Valley Tennis Club in Ojai, California. But the tournament moved to the Barnes Tennis Center this spring because the Ojai was unable to host the tournament due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
 
"Obviously Ojai is a smaller city than San Diego, and they did a great job of letting the whole city know when they were hosting Pac-12s," Rosenqvist said. "It's different for sure. We miss the small-town feeling of Ojai. But what's nice here is that players can invite guests to the tournament, and having people cheer for you is great."
 
Sunday will mark the second Big Slam of the season between Cal and Stanford. In the Bears' final match before the conference tournament, they played a typically close contest with the Cardinal but fell 4-3 on April 16 on the Farm. Cal collected singles wins from Rosenqvist, Bui and Bright but dropped the doubles point in that match.