Cristelle Grier found herself down 5-4 in the first set of her singles match against Clemson’s Federica van Alrichem in what could have been an ugly day for Northwestern on Thursday.
The Wildcats faced the possibility of being eliminated from both the singles and doubles tournaments at the ITA National Indoor Championships on just the first day of competition.
Earlier in the day, Grier and doubles partner Alexis Prousis lost in the first round of the doubles tournament, and Prousis would eventually lose her singles match later in the day.
Grier, however, rallied to win the next three games and took the first set 7-5. She cruised through the second set 6-1 to win the match in straight sets. Grier will face Megan Muth of William & Mary today in the second round of the singles tournament.
“I was really pleased with today’s singles match,” Grier said. “(Van Alrichem) had a really big serve, and the courts were fairly fast so they suited her game. I was able to stay with her and fight back to win the first set. She mentally gave up towards the end of the second set.
“I didn’t really have any expectations. I wanted to do well, but this is a new slate for me and I’m just taking it one point at a time and seeing how it goes.”
Earlier in the day, Grier and Prousis lost 8-6 to Alice Barnes and Anne Yelsey of Stanford to be eliminated from the doubles tournament. The match was level almost the entire time.
“I think we played really well,” Grier said. “They played a really good match. They didn’t make any mistakes or give us any free points. We played really well, but it just came down to a few points here and there that went their way.”
The match went back and forth, with each team for the most part winning the games in which it served.
“The match came down to a serving contest,” Prousis said. “We played a few good games on Stanford’s serves, and if we had broken their serves, we could’ve taken the match. I felt a little tight out there since it was my first time being in the tournament, but we had fun out there.”
In the Cats final match of the day, Prousis lost 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 to Southern Cal’s Amanda Fink.
“It was a really up-and-down match,” Prousis said. “I started playing better at the end of the first set and I took that momentum into the second set. I was having a tough time keeping the ball in play. If I had played a little smarter I think I could’ve won.”
Grier and Prousis qualified for both the singles and doubles tournaments through their performance in the Midwest Regional Championships. The duo won the doubles title, and Prousis defeated Grier to win the singles title.
Grier and Prousis will take on Sylvia Kosakowski and Merve Asimgil of Pepperdine in the doubles consolation tournament today.
Prousis also will face California’s Zsuzsanna Foder today in the singles consolation tournament.
Reach Michael Schlossberg at
