May 24, 2007
ATHENS, Ga. -- Despite falling behind 2-0 in both sets, sophomore All-American Georgia Rose (Mettawa, Ill./North Shore Country Day) advanced to the NCAA round of 16 Thursday at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex with a 6-4, 6-4 win over VCU's Tatsiana Uvarova.
Rose and senior Alexis Prousis (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) begin their run in the NCAA doubles bracket at 3 p.m. CT against Georgia Tech's Alison Silverio and Amanda Craddock. Rose will return to singles action Friday against Stanford's Lindsay Burdette. The freshman upset fifth-seeded -- and defending singles champion -- Susie Babos of Cal in the second round.
For tournament information, schedules and brackets, as well as links to live scoring and live video, visit the University of Georgia Tournament Information Center.
Rose struggled with her groundstroke control early, surrendering a break and falling behind 2-0 in the first set. The game was the first of six straight where neither player could hold serve.
The sophomore did not surrender a point in the third game and broke Uvarova to close to 2-1. Uvarova converted on a break point opportunity to keep the pressure on Rose by taking a 3-1 lead, but the Wildcat needed only one break point opportunity of her own to take her second game of the set and close to 3-2.
After Uvarova broke to take a 4-2 lead, Rose began her comeback and would not give up another game in the first set. She used a break to close to 4-3 and in a game where Uvarova committed three unforced errors, Rose held serve to tie the set at 4-4.
The sophomore found herself in an early 30-0 hole, but rallied to break Uvarova for a 5-4 lead, her first of the match. Serving for the set, Rose took advantage of several unforced errors by her opponent and needed only one set point opportunity to take the opening frame, 6-4.
Although Rose had a break point chance in the first game of the second set, Usarova painted the line on Rose's advantage and rallied back to take a 1-0 lead. Rose surrendered a break to fall behind 2-0 for the second time in the match. Usarova held serve to take a 3-0 lead, but took a long injury timeout and had her leg wrapped after the game.
The sophomore held to close to 3-1, but despite forcing deuce on a game point, could not prevent Usarova from holding serve for a 4-1 lead.
Rose kicked it into gear early in the next game. She uncorked a winner to take a 15-0 advantage and held serve to close to 4-2. The Wildcat opened up a 40-0 lead in the next game and took advantage of a Usarova error on break point to close to 4-3.
Rose tied the second set at 4-4 and took the next two games to advance to the round of 16. With the set tied at 4-4 and Usarova serving, Rose quickly opened up a 40-0 advantage and converted on her first break point opportunity to take a 5-4 lead.
Serving for the match, Rose fell behind 15-40, but she held off two break points to force deuce. The sophomore needed two match points, but finally closed the deal when Usarova took a Rose forehand and hit it into the net.
For complete tournament information, visit the University of Georgia Tournament Information Center.