STANFORD, Calif. – Three California Golden Bears remained in the hunt for a singles berth at next month's national indoor tournament on Saturday, as Klara Fabikova, Denise Starr and Karla Popovic all advanced to the main draw quarterfinals in the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships at Stanford's Taube Family Tennis Stadium. Fabikova, a senior, and freshman Olivia Hauger plus the pair of junior Stephane Lin and sophomore Audrey Mayer also stayed alive in doubles, winning Saturday to reach Sunday's round of 16.
The Bears are attempting to qualify for the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships next month in New York, by winning the singles and/or doubles titles on the Farm.
Fabikova – a senior seeded second at Stanford and ranked 16th in the ITA's preseason singles poll– beat Fresno State's Rana Sherif Ahmed in the round of 32, 6-4, 6-2, and then bested Washington State's ninth-seeded Danota Bashota, 7-5, 6-3, in the round of 16. The Cal All-American takes on Rana's sister, Fresno State's Maiar Sherif Ahmed, in the noon quarterfinal on Sunday.
Starr – ranked 33rd and seeded fourth – first dispatched Fresno State's Anneka Watts, 6-2, 6-1, before defeating Washington's Elianne Douglas-Miron, 6-4, 6-3. The Cal junior takes on another Husky, Tami Grende, also at 12 p.m. on Sunday. Grende beat Cal sophomore Lyann Hoang, 6-0, 6-1, in the round of 16, to earn her spot opposite Starr. Hoang had knocked off Washington State's Maria Biryukova, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, in Saturday's round of 32.
Also in the round of 32, the sixth-seeded and 64th-ranked Popovic beat Sacramento State's Deimante Bulatovaite, 6-2, 6-2, and later topped Gonzaga's ninth-seeded Sophia Whittle, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, to set up Sunday's noon quarterfinal against Stanford's top-seeded and 15th-ranked Taylor Davidson.
Lin lost her round of 32 match to Santa Clara's Madison Clarke, 6-3, 7-5.
In the doubles main draw round of 32, the third-seeded duo of Fabikova and Hauger defeated Sacramento State's Ana Loaiza and Jennifer Ong, 8-1, Lin and Mayer beat Eastern Washington's Faye Worrall and Dani Young, 8-5, and the team of Hoang and Popovic lost to the fifth-seeded pair of Jamie Pawid and Jana McCord of Saint Mary's, 8-5.
The regionals included consolation singles on Saturday, with Hauger, beating Washington's Kenadi Hance, 6-2, 6-0, and Mayer falling to Santa Clara's Daniella Silva, 6-2, 6-1, in the round of 64.
The five-day regionals conclude on Tuesday.
