Chances are Jessica Lehnhoff has seen all she wants of Megan Miller.
Amid her familiar cries of "vamanos, vamanos," the Latin-born Florida sophomore lost for the fourth time in as many matches to the Duke junior and No. 3 seed, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, at the T. Rowe Price Clay Court Championships in Pikesville, Md., this weekend.
"It's become a little rivalry," Miller said. "I know she was fired up to play me this time. She wanted to come out and show that she could beat me, that she was better."
The two met three times last year, including an emotional 6-2, 6-3 Miller victory in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament and a three-set grinder in Gainesville that Lehnhoff was forced to retire from when she cramped so severely she couldn't stand up.
Unlike the previous three matches, though, Lehnhoff controlled much of the play on the slower clay surface, winning the first set and going up a break at 4-2 in the deciding third set. But the fiery Gator couldn't hold onto the advantage as Miller fought back to win the next four games.
"I could see it in her eyes, when she was up, that she lacked confidence," Miller said. "She wanted me to give her the match instead of taking it, and I just decided she was not going to beat me."
But Saturday, there was no magical Miller comeback.
Twenty-sixth-ranked Esther Knox of Georgia ended Miller's run in the round of 16 with a 6-4, 7-5 decision. The Bulldog junior drilled shot after shot on the aluminum lines, keeping Miller on the defensive.
"She played phenomenally," Miller said. "She hit every ball so well; she just came out and earned it."
Miller was the lone Duke entrant in the singles draw of the Championships, the only major ITA tournament played on clay and a tournament that has become much better known as the showcase tournament of European players than of the top talent nationwide. Only five of the nation's top 20 singles players attended the event, which the Blue Devils skipped entirely last season.
Sophomore Erica Biro, who lost in the qualifying draw last week, formed a last-minute tag team with Miller to enter as the only Duke duo in the 16-team doubles draw.
Playing with their second partners in as many weeks, Miller and Biro dropped the former junior world No. 1 doubles player, Martina Nedelkova, and her Virginia Commonwealth teammate, Andrea Ondrisova, in the first round before falling to third-seeded Marianna Eberle and Celeste Frey of Mississippi.
While the temporary return of the doubles by committee and the somewhat shaky start to the season might give head coach Jamie Ashworth a bit more to worry about this fall season than a year ago, for Miller there's no point in crying over split clay.
"It's the only clay tournament of the year, really, so you just sort of sit back and laugh," she said. "Obviously we want to win, but we all prefer a faster surface and it's what we train on, so you just try to have fun out there."
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