Giavara, Augustus Win Title With USA
HONFLEUR, France – With Cal women's tennis star Haley Giavara winning in doubles and head coach Amanda Augustus anchoring the coaching staff, the United States defeated Great Britain, 4- 2, in the Master'U BNP Paribas Championships final on Sunday. The title was team USA's ninth in the last 10 tournaments and 10th overall, with Augustus capturing her sixth and Giavara winning in her first year in the co-ed international tournament.
This marked the first Master'U BNP Paribas Championships since 2019, as the tournament paused play during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I'm just really glad we were able to come and compete," Augustus said. "To represent our country, to be able to bring one of our own Bears in Haley Giavara and win the tournament for the U.S., I just feel really honored and blessed to have had this opportunity. I'm just really proud of this team. It was a really special week here in France."
"It feels really good," Giavara said. "This is definitely something to check off my college tennis list. This makes me feel really good because I didn't play in the fall this year, and now I'll bring the confidence and momentum I got from this tournament to the coming spring season, and that's really cool. This tournament didn't happen for a while because of COVID, and I'm happy to be part of it."
With the final tied 2-2, Giavara partnered with North Carolina's Fiona Crawley in doubles to give the U.S. a 3-2 lead, as the Golden Bear and Tar Heel beat former Stanford player Emily Arbuthnott and former Old Dominion Monarch Holly Hutchinson, 6-3, 2-6, 17-15, at the Normandie Tennis League's Centre de Tennis.
The U.S. then clinched the victory with a result in men's doubles, as USC's Stefan Dostanic and UNC's Ryan Seggerman bested Ben Jones and former Baylor player Charlie Broom, 7-6(3), 6-3.
A two-time All-American in singles, Giavara went 3-0 in doubles in France. She paired with Stanford's Connie Ma to beat Shaline Pipa (Hawaii Pacific) and Nicole Rivkin (Texas), 6-1, 4-6, 10-7, in a 5-2 U.S. win over Germany on Friday. Giavara and Ma teamed up again to defeat Alice Robbe and former Ohio State Buckeye Luna Dormet, 7-6(6), 7-6(2), in Saturday's semifinal vs. France. Giavara was scheduled to play in mixed doubles vs. the tournament host, but the match was abandoned once the Americans clinched the overall win, 4-2.
Augustus also won titles at the Master'U BNP Paribas Championships from 2012-015 and in 2018.
"I was really excited for this opportunity for Haley," Augustus said. "She came came back from injury and has been working really hard. To get the extra match play was great, and she's played great all week. The level is really high here. There are a lot of tour-level players here from a lot of other countries. For Haley and Fiona to win that doubles match – saving four or five match points – I'm just really pleased. It bodes well for our Cal team, for our dual-match season ahead and for Haley's development. She represented Cal really well. I'm proud of her and proud of the entire team."
Cal resumes the college season when the Bears play in the Hawaii Invitational from Jan. 5-7, 2023, in Honolulu.