Jupiter, Florida, rising sophomore finishes with pair of titles, adding mixed doubles championship
2018 ATA Women's Open Singles Championship Draw
ORLANDO, Fla. (July 30, 2018) – Stonehill College rising sophomore Isabelle Porter (Jupiter, Florida/William T. Dwyer) won the Women's Open Singles title at the 101st American Tennis Association (ATA) National Championships, hosted by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) National Training Center, in Orlando, Florida, this morning.
Porter, seeded No. 5 at the event, defeated No. 4-seed Aysha Hayes, from Pinole, California, 6-2, 6-2 in today's final to win the Women's Open Singles title. Porter had her serve broken just once in the third game of the second set on her way to the win. She broke Hayes in the third and fifth games of the opening set and then claimed the first set in the eighth game after her opponent held for 5-2.
Porter also teamed up with her personal coach and former Ohio State University standout BJ Munroe to win the Mixed Doubles Championship this afternoon with a victory over the New York City tandem of Shayna Spooner and Donovan Spigner.
In her singles final, Porter broke Hayes' serve right away in the opening game of the second set and then broke her serve again in the third after trailing 30-0 in the game. Hayes' lone service break of the match made it 3-1, but Porter immediately answered with a break in the fifth to open a 4-1 gap on her way to a 5-1 lead in the second set. Hayes held in the seventh game for 5-2, but Porter sealed the championship with an ace at 40-30 for championship point.
"I'm really at a loss of words, but it feels good to be able to win," said Porter following the match. "She's a really good player with a lot of shot variety, so I just tried to keep her deep and I was able to put a lot of balls away. I sort of lost focus a little bit for a couple of moments, but I stayed calm and that strategy seemed to work really well."
Porter opened the tournament with a win over 6th-seeded Soizette Simmons, from Brooklyn, New York, 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals on Saturday, before knocking off No. 7 Chacadyah Lewis, from Lake Worth, Florida, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals on Sunday. Hayes knocked off the tournament top seed, Jennifer Myers, from Winter Haven, Florida, in the semis, 6-3, 6-4.
The ATA, established November 30, 1916, is the oldest African-American sports organization in the United States and has produced a number of the world's top players and coaches. Most notably among these are Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe, the first African-Americans to be ranked No. 1 and to win grand slam titles. Others to grow up training at ATA-affiliated clubs and participating in ATA events include current USTA Chairman of the Board and President Katrina Adams, Zina Garrison, Leslie Allen, Lori McNeil, Chanda Rubin and MaliVai Washington.
Porter, ranked No. 15 in the latest Oracle/ITA Division II East Regional singles rankings, is coming off a freshman season in which she earned All-Northeast-10 Conference first team honors at No. 3 singles and NE10 All-Rookie Team honors. She posted a combined 24-11 record overall in singles and doubles play, recording a 16-5 singles mark, including 8-0 in the NE10 and 2-2 against regionally-ranked opposition. Porter and recent graduate Victoria Barbetta, '18 combined to reach the doubles semifinals at the USTA/ITA East Regional, marking the furthest Stonehill student-athletes have advanced at the event.
Stonehill, the reigning NE10 regular season champions who earned the 12th NCAA Tournament bid in program history last spring, is ranked No. 42 in the most recent Oracle/ITA Division II national rankings. The Skyhawks open their 2018 fall season on Saturday, September 8, when they host Saint Michael's College for an NE10 match at Charles Watt Tennis Courts at 5 p.m.
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