Oct. 7, 2010
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - Texas A&M's Nazari Urbina earned a berth into the 32-player main draw of singles at the prestigious Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships with a 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-2 victory over 59th-ranked Noemie Scharle of Florida State today in the qualifying singles round of 16 at the at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
In addition, Urbina (pronounced nah-ZAR-ee ur-BEE-nah) and senior Morgan Frank of Oldsmar, Fla., competing together for the first time in doubles, advanced in the 32-team main draw of doubles with a first-round 8-6 victory over No. 8 seed and eighth-ranked Taylor Marable and Hilary Bartlett of Princeton.
"Those were both strange matches," A&M coach Bobby Kleinecke said. "In the singles, Nazari was up 5-1 despite a lot of close games and was up 4-1 in the second set when Scharle just started going for winners and got them."
Scharle won the next four games to take a 5-4 lead and also was up 6-5, but Urbina won the next game to force a tiebreaker. It was a back-and forth tiebreaker, and Urbina was at match point, but Scharle came back to take the tiebreaker, 9-7, to send the match to a third set.
"Nazari stepped on a ball back and twisted her ankle in the first game of the third set, but still went up 4-0 because Scharle was making a lot of errors," Kleinecke explained. "Scharle eventually got hot, but Nazari did a good job to close out the match."
Urbina, a sophomore from Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico, will open main draw, first-round action against No. 5 seed and seventh-ranked Denise Dy of Washington later today.
"In doubles, we were down 2-0 at the start and then won the next three games to go up 3-2," Kleinecke said. "We should have been up 5-2, but it went 4-3, and it was just back and forth. We did a good job of hanging in there and being there at the right times. The fight was there, and this was a good win in their first time to play together."
Urbina and Frank, listed No. 45 in the preseason national rankings, will face 16th-ranked Anna Bartenstein and Bianca Eichkorn of Miami in the round of 16 on Friday morning.
For more information on the Riviera/ITA Championships, go to http://www.itatennis.com/Events/ITANationalChampionships/WomensAllAmerican.htm
Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, Qualifying Singles (64 players)
First Round, October 5
No. 33 Nazari Urbina (Texas A&M) def. No. 86 Ecaterina Vasenina (South Florida), 6-2, 6-1
No. 71 Morgan Frank (Texas A&M) def. No. 36 Lutfiana Budiharto (Wichita State), 6-2, 6-2
Second-Round, October 6
No. 33 Nazari Urbina (Texas A&M) def. No. 65 Alicia Aguilar (San Diego State), 6-4, 6-4
Alex Cercone (Florida) def. No. 71 Morgan Frank (Texas A&M), 6-3, 6-2
Round of 16, October 7
No. 33 Nazari Urbina (Texas A&M) def. No. 59 Noemie Scharle (Florida State), 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-2
Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, Singles Main Draw (32 players)
First Round, October 7
No. 33 Nazari Urbina (Texas A&M) vs. No. 7 Denise Dy (Washington)
Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, Doubles Main Draw (32 teams)
First Round, October 7
No. 45 Morgan Frank/Nazari Urbina (Texas A&M) def. No. 8 Taylor Marable/Hilary Bartlett (Princeton), 8-6
Round of 16, October 8
No. 45 Morgan Frank/Nazari Urbina (Texas A&M) vs. No. 16 Anna Bartenstein/Bianca Eichkorn (Miami)