Added Alex H to the list on P1

Although he was pipped to the post by an tennis player from Stanford, Dan Little of Utah was one of 7 male tennis players in the PAC12 on the short list for the conference Scholar Athlete of the Year.  Worthy of a shout-out I think.

Were you lucky enough to go in person, or were you watching on Pac12 TV?  If there, did you see any of or 3 women in the PAC 12 - Emily A at Stanford, Louise at Colorado and Sophia at Arizona?

Both Colorado and Arizona ladies played but I don't think Sophia played for Arizona Louise did but Colorado lost out to Washington. Emily A is our only player in a team seeded in the top 4 so doesn't start until tomorrow (Stanford seeded 1). A bit spoilt yesterday as all the British male players playing, in the two matches played at the central venue in Libby Park so stayed there.

Hopefully Utah will hang tough again against No 3 USC. Unfortunately that game clashes with the Stanford ladies at a different venue so will be torn. Dan looked good yesterday and won quickly in 2 so should still be fresh but USC will offer a step up in quality at each position and more critically greater depth so Joe playing at 6 will probably experience the biggest step up in quality.

I like the format the doubles point makes sure the singles is relevant but definitely confers a significant advantage, both Utah and Stanford won the doubles point and prevailed. The only frustration I have is that the best game of the day I watched didn't get to play out in full as they abandon as soon as the match is won. Although very few players will go on to be stars the standard is high to very high and getting better day by day so if you go to a couple of days you soon buy into the contest and get to know the players strengths and weaknesses etc. So throughly enjoyable and excellent value for the locals And indeed anyone who likes watching tennis.

The Ojai tournament is an enormous amateur tournament, historic in that its in its 117th year but the PAC 12 tournament although the centre piece over the first 4 days (so finished on Saturday)is just a part of a wider festival of tennis that culminates with finals on Sunday. Simultaneously there are open singles and doubles, juniors (well worth winning to build up national ranking) and similar competitions for community colleges and Div III independent schools, using venues throughout Ojai (a small town in a beautiful setting of the hills North of LA), Ventura (as in the ace pet detective!) and neighbouring Oyxnard down by the beach.

Definitely a model worth considering to increase the prestige of British University tennis.

Sunshine great but the odd cloud to hide under wouldn't hurt, pretty windy too. Utah lost out to USC pretty comprehensively who contained, playing down the order, Guy Forgets son. Dan Little though remains unbeaten, his singles match still going and into a third set. Dan having won the second and the third set still on serve, this against Nick Crystal a guy who had thumped him pretty resoundingly a couple of weeks ago. His doubles was also abandon on serve so not really much more he could of personally contributed to what is very definitely a team event.

No PAC 12 singles tournament this year so it is your performances within the confines of the team and the number you play at re exposure to ranked opposition that determine your position in the intercollegiate rankings. Doubles now reflects the pros although the extra point has a critical impact on the match result it is a bit like 20/20 cricket, a quick set of doubles and then on to the real thing, the singles.

You really have to playing no.1 to get the chance to beat the er..., Cam's of this world and very well done to him!

Stanford v Oregan at the 1 slot could easily have been a first round futures draw with Thomas plural, Fawcett v Laurent both big boys 6"3-5 Fawcett showed his experience in winning, hard nosed (and that's generous) with close line calls and going down with an ankle injury when falling behind (5-1 might have been 6 in the tie break for the first set) disrupting the rhythm of the match only to recover fully hang tough and win it.

Plenty of high quality ground strokes, long rallies and not all up the middle with both boys showing great mobility given their size. Laurent to me looked the more skilled and had chances that I think he will take with more experience, now a sophomore previously a top 10 French junior and a real step up for Oregan in terms of recruitment, he won a couple of rounds in the NCAA as a freshman a first for them. Sorry I digress talking about French tennis, words not fit for a Brit tennis website!!

On the ladies side Stanford beat up Utah, Emily won in double quick time 6-1, 6-2 at no.5 against an opponent who was moon balling her. Stanford do have a deep line up and the girls playing at No1, 2 and 3 polished solid games but you could see that Emily although looking a tiny bit rawer brings a bit more in terms of athleticism and weight of shot that will allow her to be a threat at the highest collegiate level. Stanford obviously have an eye on winning the NCAA tournament where having that strength in depth is essential. They will be even stronger next year having recruited Michela Gordon, who plans to play 2 years go pro and return. 

Even here that was born out by UCLA who got beaten by Oregan so Ducks tomorrow for Stanford. Oregon look to have more depth ie UCLA have a standout at No1 but got taken out in the lower seedlings by a highly motivated group of young ladies who you will never see grace the LTA. Ena Shibahara and Jada Hart you might?

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Friday 28th of April 2017 01:41:05 PM

-- Edited by Oakland2002 on Friday 28th of April 2017 01:50:58 PM

Congratulations to Holly who couldn't have done any better.

Emily failed in her bid to be the first to secure a singles point. She is normally sat down a good 10 minutes or so before Stanford get to the required 4 points to win their match. She was foiled not by her opponent but by leaves on the court after romping through the first set and had to sit down for 20 minutes while everyone caught up. Unfortunately she then went 2-0 after the break but clawed her way back by the time her game was abandoned as Stanford knocked off the 4 points.

Tomorrow Stanford take on Cal in the final, it will be disappointing to watch their number 1 Maegan Manasse serve under arm in the final as she was forced to do today against USC. Interestingly the match went to the wire with the 5 match ie potentially Emily's being the decider with both teams of girls lined up cheering the final points.

USC however did make the men's final defeating Cal and will take on UCLA tomorrow. I had just moved from the No 2 court having spied a row of three seats in the main stand on number 1 only to find that some oldies had presumably done a German towel round the pool job and put in some comfy over seats and then cleared off for a cup of tea. I squeezed in the row behind upsetting a very intense UCLA fella by getting him to budge up and was sat down minding my own bussiness to watch the UCLA v Stanford men's game. Fawcett was again winning the clutch points at no1, no quarter given, the guy is mentally tough. An old fella sat in front of me ushered in by a younger couple who were looking after him.

My friends will tell you I am slightly obsessed with son cream application and the consequence of lack there of and within an instant I recognised the chaps skin as that of Rod Laver MBE. The Americans around him were all very charming and new some tennis royalty he knew etc... all I could think of saying on the tennis royalty front was do you know Bob in Spain I've met him once so kept my mouth shut.

I then shuttled off to get a sandwich thinking briefly about the very nice charming lady next to him who modestly said she had played at Ojai and won the girls and later the open ladies then pointed out her son was playing for USC in his freshman year. Rod was impressed. Only when coming back to catch the tail of the USC match did it dawn on me that the German towels were infact the royal box but surrounded by kids and run of the mill fans and her son was the freshman playing no1 for USC, Brandon Holt, she had won a little more than the Ojai ladies open, indeed the open at 16.

Call me slightly impetuous but suitably impressed by the turn out for the PAC 12 tournament I plan to go crazy and buy an Ojai tournament T shirt tomorrow. Hopefully in celebration of a Stanford ladies win which would be a nice experience for Emily at the start of her collegiate career.

As mentioned earlier unless playing 1 or 2 it is very difficult to develop a collegiate rank and even then the No1 match is usually abandoned because all teams have a decent star players but the dominant schools depth quickly mops up the required 4 points.