Walker exits qualifier with first-round loss

By Pauline Vu

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

UCLA women’s tennis player Sara Walker walked on the court
nervous and then played like she was.

At the Manhattan Country Club on the morning of Aug. 6 in the
first qualifying round of the estyle.com Classic, Walker, last
year’s UCLA freshman sensation, lost 6-1, 6-1 to Tamarine
Tanasugarn of Thailand.

“I was nervous, especially to play on center court,”
Walker said of trying to earn one of the four qualifier spots for
the Classic, which runs from Aug. 7-13 and this year includes names
like Martina Hingis and Lindsay Davenport. “I didn’t
play that well.”

Walker ended her freshman campaign ranked fourth in the nation
and was also UCLA’s sole All-American. She was one of two
players who received a wild card to play in the qualifying round of
the estyle.com Classic.

Tanasugarn, Thailand’s highest ranked WTA player, led the
match from the beginning, beating Walker mostly with cross-court
hits.

“She dictated most of the points,” Walker said.
“She (put) me on the defense, made me run around the court.
It was hard to get into rhythm with her game.”

Though Walker looked a little shaky, part of that had do with
the fact that Saturday was her first time competing since the NCAA
Championships in May.

At the NCAAs she had to pull out mid-match in singles because of
a bulging disc in her back. Her doubles team also had to pull from
the tournament.

After Saturday’s match Walker said that she was still
feeling some pain in her back.

Tanasugarn and Walker have never officially played against each
other, though Tanasugarn made a stop at UCLA during the last season
and hit a few sets with Walker.

“I was familiar with her but I couldn’t recognize
her,” Tanasugarn said.

Though Tanasugarn dominated the match, she said that the match
was closer than the score implies.

“It was a tight game. I’m lucky that I got the
important points,” she said.

“I felt like I had to be aggressive. Sara runs the ball
very well, gets every ball back,” Tanasugarn added.
“She has a good return.”

After her 6-1 first set loss, Walker quickly rebounded. Behind
an ace, key Tanasugarn errors, and friends unafraid to call into
the silence, “Thataway, Sara!” and “I like that
one, Sara!” Walker won the first game of the second set to
lead 1-0.

But after her win, she lost the next six games to lose the
second set 6-1. Of those six games, she pulled within 40-30 three
times and had deuce twice. In the sixth game, however, she failed
to score a single point.

“I think she had a lot of unforced errors,”
Tanasugarn said.

Walker doesn’t have any more tournaments for the rest of
August. After the estyle.com Classic, Tanasugarn will play in the
Canadian Open in Montreal.