STANFORD, Calif. - Through two days of competition in the individual portion of the women's tennis NCAAs, Duke is more than making up for its disappointing loss to Stanford in the team semifinals. The Blue Devils boast one doubles team and three singles players headed into the quarterfinals.
Two of the singles players, top-seeded Karin Miller and No. 3 seed Vanessa Webb, expected to advance this far. Senior Wendy Fix, ranked 50th coming in, is perhaps the biggest surprise of the entire 64-player draw. Her goal initially was to earn All-American honors, given to the players who make the round of 16.
Fix is now an All-American and with each progressive match continues to demonstrate why.
She stunned seventh-seeded Dawn Buth of Florida in Monday's first round. Buth won the first set 6-2 and was up 2-1 in the second, controlling the pace by running Fix up and down the baseline and finishing her off with deft ground strokes.
But four games into the second set, Fix began hitting her shots deeper and the tide quickly turned. Fix ran off the next 11 games, taking the second set 6-2 and closing out the final set, and the match, 6-0.
"I started out rough, but once I found what was working, I stuck with it," Fix said. "It really wasn't until I won the second set where I really felt good with my game. I have nothing to lose out there."
Fix continued to shine Tuesday, advancing to the quarterfinals with wins over Katie Roubanova of UCLA and Alabama's Baili Camino. The win over Roubanova came easy-the Bruin defaulted with an injury before the match.
The match against Camino was a gritty struggle throughout. Fix won the first set 6-4 and was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second. But Camino broke Fix and won the next two games to force a third set. In the final set, Fix broke Camino's serve in the first game and outbattled the Alabaman for a 6-2 win.
Fix's wins continued a six-match win streak for her in the past week, including a win over No. 1 Katie Schlukebir of Stanford. And now, as she prepares for her quarterfinal match against Florida's M.C. White, her confidence remains on the rise.
"All of these matches have given me more confidence than I've ever had," Fix said. "This whole year its just been smart playing, and that's been the difference."
The Blue Devils' other two qualifiers for the round of eight are no surprise. Miller and Webb have both won their first three matches without dropping a set.
Webb dropped only 11 games in disposing of Purdue's Mary Beth Maggart, Gayleen McManus of Boise St. and Esther Knox of California. After suffering her first loss of the year in Saturday's team match against Stanford's Lilia Osterloh, Webb has bounced back and now prepares to face the Cardinal's Julie Scott in the quarter finals.
"I've played as well as I've had to," Webb said. "Hopefully I'll be able to raise my game to the level of the players as I advance further."
Miller's path was a little more difficult. She easily disposed of Minnesota's Nora Sauska in the first round, 6-3, 6-4 but trailed 5-4 in the first set of her match with Elisa Penalvo from Marquette. With a patient approach that frustrated Penalvo, Miller rallied to win the last three games of the set and took the second set with ease, 6-4.
In the round of 16, facing UCLA's Katie Kocsis, Miller fell behind 5-2 in the first set. The deficit seemed to light a fire under the freshman, as she took the next five games to win the first set and then won the second, 6-4. Miller now must prepare to face Zuzana Lesenarova from San Diego in the quarters.
"My singles are getting better as I go along," Miller said. "I'm kind of a slow starter-I like to work my way into tournaments. I'm looking for better things [against Lesenarova]."
Duke's other singles qualifier, senior Luanne Spadea, aggravated a foot injury during team competition and was forced to choose between playing either singles or doubles. Surprisingly, she chose singles, leaving senior partner Karen O'Sullivan stranded and forced to withdraw from the doubles competition, quietly closing out O'Sullivan's Duke career.
Spadea was able to play two games in her first round singles match against William & Mary's Michelle O before the injury flared and caused her to close out her career with a default.
In other doubles action, the Blue Devils' doubles team of Fix and sophomore Kristin Sanderson bowed out in the first round of a tight match against Texas' Laura Berendt and Sandy Sureephong. Texas won the first set 7-5, but Duke roared back in the second 6-1. The teams fought to a tiebreaker in the third set, with the Longhorns coming out on top 7-5.
Webb and Miller, undefeated for the season in doubles play, fared better. They crushed Christina Moros and Farley Taylor, also from Texas, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the 32-team field. Tuesday, the pair kept its perfect record alive in a 6-3, 6-4 romp over Isabela Petrov and Sophia Lawrence of Pepperdine.
Webb and Miller now advance to face the top-seeded duo, Stanford's Buth and Stephanie Nickitas in the quarterfinals.
Both the singles and doubles conclude Friday. Potentially, Webb and Fix could meet in the semifinals and, if all three keep winning, the winner of that match could face Miller in the finals.
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