STANFORD, Calif. – Incoming freshman Michaela Gordon's impressive qualifying run at the Bank of the West Classic came to an end Sunday evening at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
Gordon came up short in her bid to reach the 32-player main draw, falling 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5) to seventh-seeded Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in the second round of qualifying.
A native of nearby Saratoga, the 18-year-old Gordon joined rising sophomore Emma Higuchi as the two Cardinal competitors in the qualifying field. On Saturday, Gordon upset former Arizona State All-American Jacqueline Cako 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a match that took two hours and 22 minutes to complete.
Stanford will also be represented when the main draw gets underway Monday, with former All-Americans Kristie Ahn and Nicole Gibbs scheduled to compete. Ahn and Gibbs, who will team up in doubles later in the week, were members of Stanford's 2013 NCAA championship team.
Gibbs takes the court Monday, facing wildcard and Wimbledon Junior champion Claire Liu in the second match of the night session, which begins at 7 p.m. PT.
Currently ranked No. 125 in the world, Gibbs has been competing on the WTA tour since 2013, months after electing to turn pro following her junior season on The Farm. An All-American in singles during each of her three seasons (2011-13) at Stanford, Gibbs was a two-time NCAA Singles champion (2012, 2013) and teamed with Mallory Burdette to capture the 2012 NCAA Doubles crown. Gibbs, who helped guide Stanford to a national title in 2013, wrapped up her career with a 111-15 overall record and was 65-6 in duals. One of seven Cardinal players named to the Pac-12 All-Century Team, Gibbs was also a three-time all-conference pick and her 27 dual match wins in 2011 rank third in school history.
The doubles draw will also feature the all-Cardinal pairing of rising junior Melissa Lord and former All-American Carol Zhao squaring off against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Olga Savchuk.
One year after holding down the No. 6 spot, Lord accelerated her development as a sophomore in 2017 by becoming the 60th All-American in school history. Earning a No. 19 final national ranking, Lord finished 29-6 overall and 19-4 in duals while playing the majority of her matches at the No. 2 position. Lord further established her reputation as one of Stanford's most clutch players, winning four matches in NCAA team play to improve to 10-0 in her short career. Lord also claimed her first career singles title back in January at the Freeman Memorial Championships.
A three-time All-American and 2015 NCAA Singles runner-up, Zhao played a key role in Stanford's 2016 NCAA championship run before foregoing her senior season to turn pro. Zhao concluded her career on The Farm having compiled a 76-16 overall record and 51-8 dual match mark. Zhao was a three-time all-conference pick and consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 in singles throughout her career, including a career-high No. 1 ranking in the 2016 preseason poll.
The most decorated program in women's college tennis with 19 national championships (18 NCAA, 1 AIAW), Stanford produced a runner-up finish in 2017, falling 4-1 to Florida and coming up one step short in its bid to repeat as NCAA champions. The Gators were responsible for two of the Cardinal's three losses. The Cardinal, which improved to 147-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, reached the national final despite being seeded No. 7 and has now won 16 of its last 19 NCAA matches when seeded lower than its opponent. Stanford strung together a pair of 11-match winning streaks, maintained a spot among the nation's top-15 for the majority of the season and closed its campaign ranked No. 2 in the final rankings.
ABOUT THE BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC: The Bank of the West Classic is the longest-running women-only professional tennis tournament in the world and is the first stop of the US Open Series. Owned and operated by IMG, the WTA Premier event features a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $776,000. Held on Stanford University's campus at Taube Family Tennis Stadium since 1997, former champions include Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters.
ABOUT BANK OF THE WEST: Bank of the West is a regional financial services company chartered in California and headquartered in San Francisco with $77.2 billion in assets as of March 31, 2016. Founded in 1874, Bank of the West provides a wide range of personal, commercial, wealth management and international banking services through more than 600 offices in 23 states and digital channels. Bank of the West is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which has a presence in 75 countries with 185,000 employees.