Malec Breezes In Opener
5/22/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 22, 2000
MALIBU, Calif. - UNLV senior Katarina Malec made her NCAA singles championship debut and the native of Warsaw, Poland, gave no signs of ending her trip any time soon as she crushed her first-round opponent Monday.
With heavy fog rolling in off the Pacific Ocean on this seaside campus of Pepperdine University, 29th-ranked Malec needed only 59 minutes to dispatch 49th-ranked USC senior Veronika Safarova, 6-0, 6-1.
The win was Malec's 16th straight in singles and raised her record to 36-5 - just one off of the school's single-season school record set by Marianne Vallin in 1994.
Malec broke Safarova's service six times and lost only the first game of the second set. The 2000 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year said the cold, foggy conditions did not hinder her game.
"I like this kind of weather," Malec said. "It feels like England."
The sweep meant Malec has not lost even a set since February 25.
"I expected to play longer but (Safarova) tried to end points quickly, which worked in my favor today," Malec said. "I feel like I am really prepared for this tournament but it was a big relief to get the first match out of the way."
Malec will now face Clemson's Carmina Giraldo, who was a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 upset winner of Cal's Amy Jensen, who was seeded 9-16.
"I'm very proud of the way Katarina competed today," UNLV head coach Kevin Cory said. "She once again demonstrated that she is one the nation's premier college tennis players. That may have been the best match I have seen her play. To beat Safarova - who is a solid player -- like she did is incredible."
