Hurricanes’ Perez-Somarriba will defend her NCAA tennis title. This is how she got there
There were times throughout the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when Estela Perez-Somarriba woke up and was sure her career with the Miami Hurricanes was over.
Sometimes, those feelings were long gone by the afternoon of those same days, when she had done a 180 and thought for sure she’d come back for one final season at Miami.
In the end, she decided to return for a chance to defend her 2019 national title using the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now she’s one win away from completing her defense.
“Last year, that was very tough for everybody,” Perez-Somarriba said. “I kept working and trusting the process, and everybody has improved a lot since the last time I was here, so I’m just very excited, very happy and ready to play tomorrow.”
Perez-Somarriba pulled out a 2-1 (6-4, 2-6, 6-2) win against Janice Tjen of the Oregon Ducks in the final four Thursday in Orlando to keep making history with her extra season of eligibility.
The senior is only the 17th player to make multiple trips to the national championship and only the second in Atlantic Coast Conference history.
Perez-Somarriba, the No. 2 seed, will face No. 3-seed Emma Navarro of the Virginia Cavaliers on Friday at noon at the USTA National Campus. Navarro upset top-seeded Sara Daavetila of the North Carolina Tar Heels in the other semifinal Thursday.
The 22-year-old Spaniard’s latest trip to the championship comes after a historic run through the NCAA tournament. She’s only the seventh woman to reach three national semifinals and only the third in the last 30 years. She’s now 18-0 all-time in the NCAA singles’ tournament.
On Wednesday, she needed to stage an all-time comeback just to get to the final four. After dropping the first set and the first five games in the second, Perez-Somarriba stormed back for a stunning three-set win against No. 7 Abbey Forbes of the UCLA Bruins.
Less than 24 hours after winning the three-hour match in the quarterfinals, Perez-Somarriba is one win away from becoming the seventh woman with multiple singles national titles.
“it’s just another tennis match, just like every other that I’ve played,” Perez-Somarriba said. “I’m ready tomorrow like I’ve done in the past, every match. I think for tomorrow nothing changes, honestly, just playing every point like every other point.”
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 3:07 PM.
