FLUSHING, N.Y. – Klara Fabikova capped her last visit to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships with a successful title run on Sunday, when the California senior captured the consolation singles final at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
Fabikova, a doubles All-American ranked 16th in the ITA singles preseason poll, defeated Michigan's Brienne Minor, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1.
“For Klara finishing this week off with a win was a really big deal because I think she's had a great fall and had a ton of really good wins,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. “The girl she played today is a freshman but is very talented and plays very well indoors. Klara really had to be on her game. Minor made a run in the second set, but Klara settled herself and readjusted. Klara served really well today but really had to work her points to get a ball to attack with, which is how she likes to play.
“It's a good win. She's a senior, and it's her last time here. It's good to see her come away with some hardware, which was one of our goals coming to the event. We're really happy about that.”
“It's always a little different when you play someone new, especially freshman who are new to college tournament system – they just play and don't have anything to lose,” said Fabikova, who hails from Brno in the Czech Republic. “On the other hand with me being a senior I had more experience, and today that helped me to win the match.”
“Today I had to keep depth on my balls so she couldn't move me around that much, and so I kept pressure on her. My serves were pretty good today, and also I was looking to finish the point at the net. Those three things helped me to win the match.”
Fabikova – one of Cal's team leaders and one of two seniors on the squad – has posted a strong fall season, winning two singles titles. That includes the consolation singles championship at the Oracle/ITA Masters in September.
She opened national indoors with a loss to Florida's 32nd-ranked Belinda Woolcock, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4, in the main draw's round of 32.
“The last time I came here I only played doubles, so my goal for the fall was to qualify for this tournament in singles,” she said. “I had a lot of experience and I wasn't that nervous going into the matches. I had a tough loss in the first round of the main draw, but that actually helped my confidence that I could play with the top players. I wanted to win the back draw.”
The veteran Fabikova has improved even since late last season, when she finished as the Pac-12 singles runner-up and as the NCAA doubles runner-up with now undergraduate assistant coach Zsofi Susanyi.
“I'm playing smarter on the important points,” she said. “Before I would have a couple of good games and then have sort of a drop in play when I didn't do as well. I'm more consistent now.”
“Klara has the experience,” Augustus added. “She works very hard on her game. She obviously had a lot of the accolades at the end of the season, and her next ranking should be quite high with her wins this fall. She's definitely one of our top singles players, and I'm looking forward to seeing her continue to grow and finish her final spring season strong.”
TEMPE, Ariz. – Lynn Chi captured third place in main draw singles on Sunday as the ASU Thunderbird Invitational came to a close. The 39th-ranked Cal senior defeated Arizona State's Ebony Panoho, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
Sophomore Karla Popovic – ranked 64th – also had a chance to finish the tournament with a win, but she lost to ASU's Kassidy Jump, 6-1, 6-3, in the final of the Maroon Draw Second-Round Consolation Bracket.
Sophomore Lyann Hoang bageled San Diego's Sophia Chow, 6-0, 6-0, in another section of the Maroon Draw Second-Round Consolation Bracket.
In doubles, the pair of Popovic and junior Stephane Lin beat a mixed team of Minnesota's Maja Vujic and Michigan's Kara Hall, 6-2, and the team of Chi and Hoang defeated Northern Arizona's Hailey Rochin and Marta Lewandowska, 6-2.
Cal ended the fall portion of its 2015-16 season with the national indoor and ASU tournaments. The Bears return to action in 2016 when they host the Cal Winter Invitational from Jan. 15-17 at the Hellman Tennis Complex and the Channing Tennis Courts.
Cal Results at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships
Nov. 15, 2015, in Flushing, N.Y.
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center
Singles Consolation Draw – Final
No. 16 Klara Fabikova (Cal) def. Brienne Minor (Michigan) – 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
