1. Sampras’ Ucla Women Capture First Ncaa Team Title
When the final ball was crushed for an overhead and the NCAA women’s team title was finally UCLA’s, Stella Sampras-Webster did not want all the attention and praise lavished on her. She wanted all of that left to her senior-heavy team that had just reached the pinnacle college tennis.
“I don’t think this makes me coach of the year or validates me in any way,” Sampras-Webster said. “I don’t have an ego that way. I’m just proud that we could finally contribute to UCLA and getting it national title No. 102, the most of any other school.” What the 4-0 victory over California at Tulsa does, however, is lift a heavy burden off the shoulders of the program that had not been able to ever contribute to that illustrious number. “It might not have been our best team ever, but it was our deepest team and a team that was just determined not to lose,” Sampras-Webster said. “We knew we had four seniors coming back and that we were the team to beat.”
Fittingly, Bruin senior Riza Zalameda rallied from a set down to defeat rival Susie Babos, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, clinching the victory at No. 1 singles. Zalameda, a Beverly Hills High product who played her high school tennis just miles from the UCLA campus, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
UCLA had fallen in the NCAA Final on five prior occasions. The Bruins didn’t stop there. Best friends Zalameda and Tracy Lin of Anaheim became the sixth team in school history to capture an NCAA doubles title with a three-set victory over Fresno State’s Melanie Gloria/Tinesta Rowe.
2. Bryan Brothers Win U.S. Open
Camarillo Twins Bob and Mike Bryan won their second straight US Open title and also took the bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics. “It’s just a lot of fun having a built-in best friend to travel the world with,” the 30-year-old Mike said. “It would be kind of a little bit boring if I was out here by myself. I don’t know if I would still be playing. If he gets hurt tomorrow, I’ll probably stop.” Added the lefty Bob: “We’ll be talking about these wins for the rest of our lives.” We’ve been through all the highs and lows together. That’s what makes our bond so tight. It’s not just the DNA.”
3. Serbs Djokovic, Ivanovic Win Indian Wells
Since the three sizzling Serbians, Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic reached the ‘07 French Open semifinals together, that tiny nation has received more hearty sporting accolades than the Jamaican Bobsled team that beat out the US at the 1992 Winter Olympics.
In the desert, it was time to take a deep bow to rapidly rising Serbs. For the first time ever, the third-ranked Djokovic and the second-ranked Ivanovic won Tier I titles on the same day on the same court and at the same locale, Indian Wells. Once again, tiny but bold Serbia, (population 10.1 million) stole the headlines, this time in California’s (population 37 million) most important event.
Djokovic ended American Mardy Fish’s stunning run the final in clinical 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory. Fish had knocked off a slew of excellent players en route to the final in the tournament of his life: fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko, two-time Grand Slam champ Lleyton Hewitt, former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian and the stunner of stunners, top ranked Roger Federer. The sweet- swinging Ivanovic won her first Tier I title in the USA by overpowering second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-3 for the title.
4. Del Potro Comes Alive and Wins Countrywide
Juan Martin Del Potro says that if he hadn’t gone into the tennis business, he might have been an architect. And, certainly, no one can knock the structural integrity of the 6-foot-5 Argentine’s run through the draw at the Countrywide Classic, where he didn’t drop a set all week en route to the first hard-court title of his young career. The No. 24-ranked right-hander came into the final at UCLA against Andy Roddick riding a 13-match win streak that enveloped a pair of clay-court titles in Stuttgart and Kitzbuhel. With a decisive 6-1, 7-6(2) win over Roddick, Del Potro upped his run to 14 consecutive wins and three straight ATP titles.
5. ‘New’ Safina Shows Elite Stuff at East West Bank
Italian veteran Flavia Pennetta believes that Dinara Safina can win a Grand Slam, and who is to doubt her? Pennetta has confronted every player of note during her career and has hit a top-20, where her opinion really matters. After taking a rapid 6-4, 6-2 defeat to Safina in the final of East West Classic at the Home Depot Center, Pennetta heralded the Russian’s rise. “I think she can be top five for sure. She can do it.”
Safina is a humble 22-year-old and refuses to toot her own horn. But it’s easy to hear how confident she is in her team, her coach Zelikko Krajan, and fitness trainer, Dejan Vojnovic. She better understands the meaning of her game, how her weapons fit inside the box, rather than falling out of it. Her first serve is big, her second serve bites, her two-handed backhand is consistent and penetrating. But as Pennetta says, there are two other more crucial reasons why Safina had won 23 of her last 25 matches through LA.
“She’s in good shape, with confidence and with a player with a good serve and good backhand, and she hits hard, with players like that, it’s pretty hard to beat them.”
6. U.S. Fed Cup Team Beats Germany in La Jolla
It was downright un-American. While the rest of the country was busy grinding avocados for guacamole, chilling their Bud Lights, or breaking out the Nerf football for a pre-game backyard toss, Lindsay Davenport & Co. were stuck in a rain delay at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, the outcome of their Fed Cup quarterfinal against Germany hanging in the balance.
Sandwiched between the Super Bowl and Super Tuesday, Zina Garrison’s U.S. team was playing without Venus or Serena Williams, yet came into the tie an overwhelming favorite against a relatively inexperienced German contingent. By Sunday, they had hoped to be putting the finishing touches on a lopsided victory in time to tune into the Giants-Patriots showdown. But Davenport fell to her first-round opponent, the relatively unknown Sabine Lisicki, 6-1, 7-5. Not all was lost. Fed Cup rookie Ashley Harkleroad responded in a big way, dismantling top-ranked German Tatjana Malek.
Sunday’s rains never did subside, forcing the action to continue on Monday, and thus giving the teams an opportunity to take in the Super Bowl after all. Fans saw a different Davenport in the reverse singles against last-minute sub Julia Gorges. The three-time Slam champ was on her game early and wasted little time in disposing of the 19-year-old German 6-1, 6-2 in a mere 46 minutes. But as impressive as Davenport’s turnaround was, it was Harkleroad who assumed the role hero, albeit an unlikely one. Most saw her as an underdog in the fourth rubber against the big-hitting Lisicki. But the player whose Fed Cup captain calls her “old school” came through 6-4, 7-5.
7. Vandeweghe Wins USO Juniors
Now all Coco Vandeweghe has to do is finish No. 1 at year’s end four times, win three Grand Slams, a gold medal and win more money than any other female player in history ($22 million plus) if she wants her career to continue resembling that of her idol Lindsay Davenport. After her straight-set U.S. Open final junior win over Venezuela’s Gabriel Paz, 7-6(3), 6-1, Rancho Santa Fe’s Vandeweghe quickly became the player with the label “Up Next.” All the 16-year-old did was roll through the tournament without dropping a set after being given a wildcard.
8. USC Doubles Pair Wins Ncaas
Going the distance. That’s what Kaes Van’t Hof and Robert Farah will remember most someday when they look back on their ‘08 NCAA men’s doubles individual title. The USC doubles tandem reached the pinnacle of college tennis doubles by playing tiebreakers in their last five sets, winning the final four, against the top two teams from Mississippi in the semifinals and finals.
Van’t Hof, a senior, and Farah, a sophomore, became the first Trojans team since 1989 to win the title in their 7-6 (10), 7-6 (6) victory over Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit in Tulsa.
9. Tsay Says Hey at Easter Bowl
On a day when former Easter Bowl champion Andy Roddick (1998, boys’ 16s) was clinching the U.S.’s Davis Cup quarterfinal against France, Seena Hamilton’s annual tennis-fest in the desert was wrapping up with more gold, silver and bronze balls handed out. Fans at the 41st annual USTA Easter Bowl Junior National Championships held at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort in Rancho Mirage saw an all-California girls’ 16s final between Ellen Tsay of Pleasanton and Sarah Lee of Los Angeles. The left-handed Tsay, the No. 2 seed beat Lee, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and later won the doubles to collect her fourth and fifth gold balls.
In the boys’ 16s final, Venice’s Clay Thompson, fell 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4), to No. 8 Jack Sock of Lincoln, Neb. Thompson finally did get his gold ball to go with his silver in singles taking the doubles with Nelson Vick.
10. Tennis Channel Open Sold to South Africa
The Southwest lost its second pro tournament in two years when Las Vegas’ Tennis Channel Open joined San Diego’s Acura Classic in the dustbins of history, as it was sold to investors in South Africa. Thousand Oak’s Sam Querrey won his first career pro title at the February event by ironically beating a South African, Kevin Anderson, in the final.
