Team USA, led by North Carolina junior Fiona Crawley and graduate student Ryan Seggerman, defeated the United Kingdom, 4-3, in the finals on Sunday to claim the MasterU’ BNP Paribas Championship for the 10th time.
Eight nations participated, each of which had a team of three women and three men. The format of the tournament consisted of three knockout rounds, each of which were best of seven, with every team playing four singles and three doubles matches in each round.
What happened?
The championship began on Friday, with Team USA facing off against Germany. Crawley, playing in the No. 1 singles spot, was the first to record a win, trouncing Nicole Rivkine in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. Seggerman ultimately found success as well and after a hard fought first set, he came out on top to defeat Jordi Walder 7-6, 6-3. The rest of Team USA followed suit and swept Germany in singles play to secure a trip to the semifinals.
Saturday saw Team USA facing off against France. The host nation showed a great deal of fight that caused almost every match to go down to the wire.
Crawley, after uncharacteristically dropping the first set of her singles match 6-1 to Alice Robbe, rallied back in an impressive and gritty showing to defeat her opponent 7-5, 10-8. Seggerman was unable to do the same and dropped his match against Francois Musitelli 6-4, 7-6. After singles play had concluded, France and the United States found themselves tied at 2-2.
Team USA, who had faltered the previous day in doubles play by conceding two of its three matches to Germany, came out firing. They were able to secure both women’s and men’s doubles victories to clinch their trip to the final round.
Team USA squared off against Great Britain in the championship-deciding last day of the tournament. Once again, the two teams found themselves knotted at 2-2 after singles play had concluded. Crawley, after remaining undefeated in singles throughout the fall season, lost for the first time, falling to Holly Hutchinson 6-3, 4-6, 5-10. But for the second consecutive day, the pair was able to rally back and triumph in doubles.
Crawley and Berkley’s Haley Giavara won 6-3, 2-6, 17-15 in a hotly contested game, and Seggerman and USC’s Stefan Dostanic picked up a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory to secure Team USA’s ninth championship in 10 years.
