Incoming Freshman Forbes Qualifies for US Open
August 12, 2019 | Women's Tennis
SAN DIEGO โ Incoming women's tennis freshman Abbey Forbes partnered with Alexa Noel to capture the Girls' 18 doubles title at the USTA Billie Jean King Girls' 16s and 18s National Championships Sunday in San Diego. Matches, which began Saturday, Aug. 3, were played at Barnes Tennis Center.
The duo earned wild-card entry into the US Open main draw with its performance.
It will be a busy month for Alexa Noel & Abigail Forbes as they pack their bags for New York and the #USOpen after winning the #USTAGirlsNationals doubles title today in San Diego! #USTA #USTAsocal pic.twitter.com/RndafTJAfn
โ USTA SoCal (@USTASoCal) August 12, 2019
Seeded 13th in the field, Forbes and Noel beat Anique Kattenberg and Lindsay Thompson 6-4, 6-2 in the tournament's second round. The next round proved much tougher, as Forbes and Noel held off 17th-seeded Audrey Boch-Collins and Katherine Duong 6-2, 3-6, 1-0(9) to set up a showdown with the top seed.
Forbes and Noel took six of eight first-set games against No. 1 Chloe Beck and Emma Navarro to quickly move within one set of the upset victory. Beck and Navarro answered, however, forcing a third-set tiebreaker. For the second time in as many matches, Forbes and Noel came out on the right end of a close one, defeating Beck and Navarro 6-2, 5-7, 1-0(7) to move into the tournament's driver's seat.
Next up was No. 17 seed Kylie Collins and Robin Montgomery, who proved no contest. The straight-set win put Forbes and Noel into the semifinal round, where they used a first-set tiebreaker to propel themselves to a 7-6(4), 6-4 defeat of No. 3 seed Carly Briggs and Anne Marie Hiser and a spot in the final round.
Pitted against unseeded Gabriella Price and Katrina Scott, Forbes and Noel closed out their impressive run through the field with another straight-set decision. Price and Scott pushed the eventual champions in the first set, but were no match in the second. Forbes and Noel won 7-5, 6-1.
Forbes follows in the footsteps of future UCLA teammates Jada Hart and Taylor Johnson, who were part of the same event's Girls' 18 doubles champions in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Hart joined forces with another Bruin, Ena Shibahara, to seize her crown.
Sunday's win marked the latest in an impressive summer for Forbes, who also won the double title at the Wimbledon junior tournament with partner Savannah Broadus in July.
The US Open will take place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York and run from Monday August 26 and continue through Sunday Sept. 8.
