NC State
NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
Bhambri First Ever to Advance at NCAAs
5/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 26, 2011
PALO ALTO, CALIF. - Over a grueling three and a half hours, 28th-ranked Sanaa Bhambri cemented her place in NC State women's tennis history by becoming the first player in program history to advance to the round of 32 in the NCAA Singles Championship Wednesday at Taube Stadium on the campus of Stanford University.
Bhambri outlasted 55th-ranked Tayler Davis of California in dramatic fashion, winning 6-7 (2-7), 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in a final set tiebreaker.
"Sanaa knows how to fight for something that she really wants," said NC State head coach Hans Olsen. "She showed that fight tonight, battling for over three and a half hours with great effort all the way to the end. I give a lot of credit to Tayler Davis, as well, for working so hard on every point of the match."
In the deciding set, Bhambri trailed 4-2, battling back to a 4-4 tie over the next two points. The two players held serve until the tiebreak.
Bhambri dropped the first point of the tiebreaker trying to squeeze a winner by Davis at the net, but followed that mistake with two outstanding plays, evening the score with an overhead, and taking the lead on a crosscourt backhand winner.
Davis responded by winning the next point, but fell behind 4-2 on a pair of unforced errors into the net. A winner down the sideline closed the gap to 4-3, but a similar shot on the next point sailed wide to give Bhambri a 5-3 advantage.
Bhambri closed the deal with the next two points; sending two volleys back to Davis to grab a 6-3 lead and, finally, forcing a Davis forehand into the net for the match.
The first set went to a tiebreaker, with Davis prevailing 7-2 after storming back from a 6-5 disadvantage. Bhambri controlled the second set from start to finish, winning 6-3.
Weather delays forced the match to start over two hours late, at 7:35 PT (10:35 ET). The match concluded at 11:15 PT (2:15 ET).
Bhambri moves on to the second round, which begins Thursday, May 26, where she will take on Stacey Tan of Stanford at 4 p.m. ET. Later in the evening, Bhambri will team with Sandhya Nagaraj to battle Venise Chan and Denise Dy of Washington in the NCAA Doubles Championship. Links for live scoring and video for both matches will be available on the women's tennis schedule page at GoPack.com.
