MORAGA, Calif. – Karla Popovic's strong start to the season continued when the California junior captured the top-flight singles and – with Olivia Hauger – top-flight doubles titles on Sunday at the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational at the Timothy Korth Tennis Complex.
 
In the Singles A semifinals, the 90th-ranked Popovic beat McCord, 6-1, 6-3, while in the other bracket, Stanford's Emma Higuchi upset the third-seeded and 86th-ranked Hauger, 6-4, 7-5, to set up a Cal-Stanford final. Popovic went on to beat Higuchi, 6-0, 6-4, to claim her title.
 
"I was sticking to my game plan," Popovic said. "I was trying to be aggressive and move really well and be attacking be the one who controls the point. I think I did a pretty good job of that and I think I served well."
 
On Oct. 2 at the Cal Nike Fall Invitational, Popovic won her first title of the season, taking the top-flight singles crown, and then added to her collection on Sunday.
 
Is this the best start to a college season for the third-year Golden Bear?
 
"Definitely," said the Zabok, Croatia, product. "I don't think I've had a better start in my previous years at Cal. I'm very excited about this season."
 
"She's been building toward this for a while now," Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said. "She's feeling more confident. A big part of the program is improving all of our players. We've always felt that Karla was going to develop into a national contender. She started that last season, and I think it's a process. She just missed out on being in the All-American, and she's showing why and will continue to show why she hopefully will be at the indoors come November."
 
Augustus referred to the Riviera ITA All-American Championships, which ended on Sunday in Pacific Palisades, California. The main draw singles semifinalists, main draw doubles finalists and main draw consolation champions from the All-American earned berths to the last major tournament of the fall – the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, which will run Nov. 3-6 in Flushing, New York.
 
On Sunday morning, the top-seeded pair of Popovic and Hauger, a sophomore, defeated the second-seeded duo of Jana McCord and Jacqueline Pelletier of Saint Mary's, 8-3, to win the Doubles A title. The two Bears have continued to make strides this fall, as they first played doubles together in the Cal Nike Fall Invitational, in which they reached the quarterfinals of the top flight.
 
"They did a great job," Augustus said of the Saint Mary's final. "The thing about them as a pairing is they make you hit a lot of balls. They make their serves. They've both become a lot more confident in their net play. We'll continue to see how they play as a pair, but I thought they played very aggressive and they got off to a quick start and finished strong in that final."
 
Several Bears – including senior Stephane Lin, junior Audrey Mayer, sophomore Maria Smith and freshman Alexis Nelson – also competed in the Saint Mary's Fall Invitational, which came to a close on Sunday.
 
"It was a good weekend," Augustus said. "For some of them it was their first time to play back-to-back weekends here so far. Some of them are getting used to that. We finished with some good wins. Everyone has their list of things to work on. We're really looking forward to seeing what everyone does with the opportunity in the regionals in a couple weeks, with everyone in the same draw and where everyone will have the same shot at getting to indoors."
 
Cal next plays in the USTA/ITA Northwest Regional Championships from Oct. 21-24 at Stanford. The champions of the singles and doubles main draws from the various regional championships around the nation will qualify for the national indoor tournament.