No. 5 Gabriela Knutson opened the first round of the NCAA singles tournament with a back-and-forth 6-3, 7-5 victory against Auburn’s No. 56 Jaeda Daniel. Knutson’s win moves her on to the second round in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Knutson opened the first four games playing flustered with a shaky first serve and a couple of easy misfires. As the SU junior dropped serve at 3-2, Knutson took a new approach against Daniel: electing to play longer rallies.

When Daniel served in the first set, Knutson barely moved to the ball because it was usually right in front of her. With an ineffective first serve from Daniel early on, Knutson played points longer, waiting for an error from the Auburn freshman. As Knutson started to solve Daniel’s serve, the junior began to find hers. Serving for the set at 5-3, Knutson swept the game on a forehand winner on the right side out-of-bounds line to take the first set.

In the second set, Knutson tried to do much of the same as the match got tighter. After the two both dropped serve in the first two games, Knutson opened the third game of the set with a fault. The next serve, the junior struggled to figure out her timing and dropped her racket in frustration.

At 2-2, Knutson fell behind 0-40 as Daniel served to the take the lead. Four-straight winners later, including a 24 shot rally, Knutson recovered from the deficit and took a 3-2 lead. Knutson soon was positioned to win the match with the serve at 5-2. But Daniel wasn’t going down easily.

Knutson’s first serve started to falter again as Daniel began to rally. Behind several errors from Knutson, Daniel leveled the set at 5-5. The match’s biggest moment came at 40-all in the following game, with the second set knotted at 5-all. As Daniel served for the point, the two exchanged seven shots until the Auburn freshman had a chance to take the lead with a shot down the left endline. After the shot, both players turned to the umpire. He called it out-of-bounds as the point went to Knutson.

After failing to the close the match with serve twice, Knutson had one more opportunity to win in straight sets, and she didn’t blow it. The two traded points to start, but an off-balance forehand winner to the opposite side of the court gave Knutson a 30-15 advantage. After a backhand winner, Knutson watched a long shot from Daniel float over her head to clinch the match, 6-3, 7-5.

With the victory, Knutson will advance to the round of 32 and face Northwestern’s No. 38 Erin Larner on Wednesday.

Published on May 23, 2018 at 9:55 am

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman