Colorado University Athletics
Wednesday, October 5
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Qualifying Day 2
Photo by: Chip Bromfield, ProMotion Ltd.
Ormeño Ruiz Breezes Into Main Draw With Third Straight Top-100 Win
October 05, 2016 | Tennis
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Colorado tennis player Nuria Ormeño Ruiz breezed past her third top-100 opponent in the past two days to advance to the Main Draw of the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Ormeño Ruiz swept 59th-ranked Gabriela Knutson from Syracuse, 6-1, 6-2. She upset the 74th and 33rd-ranekd players in the country on Tuesday.
Ormeño Ruiz never trailed in either set on Wednesday. She won the final five games of the first set and pulled away from a 2-2 tie in the second set to win the final four games.
The will find out her opponent in the Round of 32 of the Main Draw later Wednesday afternoon. Ormeño Ruiz is one of eight players who will advance from a Qualifying Draw of 32 to compete in the Main Draw.
She is the first Buff to defeat top-100 opponents in three consecutive matches since Kathleen Cummings in 1982. She will also be just the eighth player in school history to compete in the Main Draw of the All-American Championships.
POSTMATCH QUOTES
Nicole Kenneally, head coach
On Nuria's play on Wednesday
"Nuria has done all of the preparation, done everything right. She had a great warmup this morning, came out and just played very high percentage, aggressive tennis from the get-go. She got on top of her opponent early and just kept chipping away at her. [Her opponent] has a big game; we knew what her strengths were and I think we did a good job of making those a non-factor."
On what's working so well right now
"Over the course of her career, we've talked a lot about her serves. She's getting a lot of free points with her serves and setting herself up so she's just not having to work as hard during the point. The points aren't going as long simply because when she's serving, she's stepping up, she's making a high percentage of her serves, she's putting them in position that's allowing her to make the point on her racquet within the first two or three balls. We're not playing long points, partly because of the confidence that she feels in regards to her service game as she's stepping up and being aggressive with her returns. And playing smart, not overplaying, but playing very high-percentage choices and she's on it. I think mentally, she's just right there. She's ready for every shot, she's ready for every ball to come back. She's giving her opponent a lot of respect in that she's expecting everything to come back and she's running after everything. When you do those things, it's going to be really hard [for her opponent] because she's just out there having fun, just being aggressive and staying positive. Win or lose a point, she just gets ready for the next one."
Nuria Ormeño Ruiz, senior, Barcelona, Spain
On her play today and yesterday
"I came here just to have fun with no pressure. I wasn't one of the favorites so I came here just to have fun. I've been playing awesome. I love this place; it's [not high altitude] so it's a little bit easier to play. It's been awesome being out here. Of course I miss being with the team since it's only me by myself; it's individual. I miss having them behind me from fence and on the other courts, but it's been great. Especially with what happened this morning [on campus] with the alerts that were coming through, Coach and I were pretty scared and I went out there and said, 'I'm going to do it for the Buffs today,' since they're having a rough day over there."
On what's been working so well at the tournament
"We've been working on the serve a lot for a couple weeks, because if you get the first serve in, the point gets easier from the beginning. We've also been working on a lot of returns, not just hitting it really hard, but just placing the ball really well. I think that's what's been working for me, just making my first serves and making my returns, and just playing smart and hitting my targets."
Riviera/ITA All-American Championships – Qualifying
Final Round
Nuria Ormeño Ruiz (110) (CU) def. Gabriela Knutson (59) (Syracuse), 6-1, 6-2
Ormeño Ruiz swept 59th-ranked Gabriela Knutson from Syracuse, 6-1, 6-2. She upset the 74th and 33rd-ranekd players in the country on Tuesday.
Ormeño Ruiz never trailed in either set on Wednesday. She won the final five games of the first set and pulled away from a 2-2 tie in the second set to win the final four games.
The will find out her opponent in the Round of 32 of the Main Draw later Wednesday afternoon. Ormeño Ruiz is one of eight players who will advance from a Qualifying Draw of 32 to compete in the Main Draw.
She is the first Buff to defeat top-100 opponents in three consecutive matches since Kathleen Cummings in 1982. She will also be just the eighth player in school history to compete in the Main Draw of the All-American Championships.
POSTMATCH QUOTES
Nicole Kenneally, head coach
On Nuria's play on Wednesday
"Nuria has done all of the preparation, done everything right. She had a great warmup this morning, came out and just played very high percentage, aggressive tennis from the get-go. She got on top of her opponent early and just kept chipping away at her. [Her opponent] has a big game; we knew what her strengths were and I think we did a good job of making those a non-factor."
On what's working so well right now
"Over the course of her career, we've talked a lot about her serves. She's getting a lot of free points with her serves and setting herself up so she's just not having to work as hard during the point. The points aren't going as long simply because when she's serving, she's stepping up, she's making a high percentage of her serves, she's putting them in position that's allowing her to make the point on her racquet within the first two or three balls. We're not playing long points, partly because of the confidence that she feels in regards to her service game as she's stepping up and being aggressive with her returns. And playing smart, not overplaying, but playing very high-percentage choices and she's on it. I think mentally, she's just right there. She's ready for every shot, she's ready for every ball to come back. She's giving her opponent a lot of respect in that she's expecting everything to come back and she's running after everything. When you do those things, it's going to be really hard [for her opponent] because she's just out there having fun, just being aggressive and staying positive. Win or lose a point, she just gets ready for the next one."
Nuria Ormeño Ruiz, senior, Barcelona, Spain
On her play today and yesterday
"I came here just to have fun with no pressure. I wasn't one of the favorites so I came here just to have fun. I've been playing awesome. I love this place; it's [not high altitude] so it's a little bit easier to play. It's been awesome being out here. Of course I miss being with the team since it's only me by myself; it's individual. I miss having them behind me from fence and on the other courts, but it's been great. Especially with what happened this morning [on campus] with the alerts that were coming through, Coach and I were pretty scared and I went out there and said, 'I'm going to do it for the Buffs today,' since they're having a rough day over there."
On what's been working so well at the tournament
"We've been working on the serve a lot for a couple weeks, because if you get the first serve in, the point gets easier from the beginning. We've also been working on a lot of returns, not just hitting it really hard, but just placing the ball really well. I think that's what's been working for me, just making my first serves and making my returns, and just playing smart and hitting my targets."
Riviera/ITA All-American Championships – Qualifying
Final Round
Nuria Ormeño Ruiz (110) (CU) def. Gabriela Knutson (59) (Syracuse), 6-1, 6-2
Players Mentioned
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