Oct. 6, 2005
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Notre Dame junior tennis twins Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.), the #2-ranked doubles team in the nation, began their 2005-06 campaign in dominant fashion, earning an 8-0 triumph against the #7-ranked team in college tennis on Thursday at the Riviera Tennis Club in the opening round of the season’s first grand slam, the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships. The sisters – runners-up in last year’s tournament – will face the sixth-ranked team on Friday at 2:30 p.m. (PDT) in the quarterfinals.
The Thompsons, the No. 2 seeds, downed a pair of new conference rivals, juniors Gabriela Duch of Mexico and Neyssa Etienne of Haiti from the University of South Florida, which has joined the BIG EAST Conference for the 2005-06 season. The Notre Dame sisters did not drop a game against the Bulls, earning their sixth career victory over top-10 opposition and moving to 9-1 against league foes.
Next up will be the team of Alice Barnes and Anne Yelsey of Stanford. Barnes paired with the now-graduated Erin Burdette to win the NCAA doubles title last spring, defeating Yelsey and Amber Liu in the championship match.
A total of four top-10 teams – including the No. 4 seed – did not survive the opening day. Fourth-ranked Olga Borisova and Marianna Yuferova of VCU were the highest-ranked team to be upset, as they fell 8-6 to #11 Daniela Bercek and Jessi Robinson from Duke.
The Thompsons – who registered the best result in this tournament school history a year ago – are the highest-seeded Irish doubles team ever in the event. They are now 8-4 in their career in grand-slam action.
The tournament will proceed with one round each day until Sunday’s championship match. Free live internet audio coverage of the final two days will be available on www.radiotennis.com.
Riviera/ITA All-American Championships (October 6)Doubles Main Draw#2 Catrina Thompson/Christian Thompson (ND) d. #7 Gabriela Duch/Neyssa Etienne (South Florida) 8-0 - first round