WACO, Texas — The second day of the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship was, in a word, bittersweet.
Continuing her run of dominant tennis, Pepperdine senior Savannah Broadus reached the round of 16 with her 6-0, 6-3 win over Virginia junior Annabelle Xu, which earned Broadus Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American status.
This All-American honor is another accolade in one of the most decorated careers Pepperdine has ever seen, regardless of sport. Broadus is one of two Pepperdine women's tennis players to earn All-American status five times, joining Noelle Porter ('92).
Broadus' first set was utterly dominant. Speeding through her match in 62 minutes, Broadus blanked Xu in the first set — which featured a string of nine consecutive points won — and went up a break in the second set. All throughout, Broadus took a more aggressive approach, wasn't afraid to get to the net and stifled Xu with her serve.
However, Xu broke Broadus on deuce point in the third game, snapping the Pepperdine senior's eight-game run. Broadus promptly broke back in the fourth game, yet Xu broke Broadus in the fifth game in what was the most difficult game of Broadus' tournament run up until that point. Then the Virginia junior consolidated the break to put the match back on serve.
With the score tied at three games apiece, Broadus went back behind the service line for a pivotal seventh game. After both players went back and forth in the first four points, Xu couldn't handle a Broadus serve at 30-all, which put Broadus one point away from holding serve. On the next play, Broadus didn't hesitate and advanced to the net for a winner to hold serve.
Then Broadus got a little help. In Xu's final service game, the Virginia junior double-faulted twice — including on game point — to give Broadus a 5-4 advantage. From there, the Pepperdine senior went up 40-15 in the final game, Xu saved a match point, then Broadus punched her ticket to the round of 16 with a forehand winner on the deuce side.
Later that evening, Broadus and Vivian Yang saw their doubles run come to a premature end with a 5-7, 6-2, 0-1 (14) loss to Georgia's unseeded team of Guillermina Grant and Aysegul Mert. With Broadus and Mert returning from last year's NCAA doubles final, the first-round match was a rematch, of sorts.
The circumstances were eerily similar to Broadus' opening round NCAA doubles match in spring 2024, in which she and Janice Tjen prevailed 15-13 in a third-set tiebreaker. Wednesday's script followed the same sequence: A close first-set loss, followed by a lopsided second-set win, then a 10-point tiebreak set that went the distance under the lights. Both Georgia and Pepperdine saved three match points in the breaker, yet Grant and Mert prevailed to upset the 4-seed Waves.
Broadus will face 2-seed Dasha Vidmanova of Georgia in tomorrow's round of 16. Although the two have met just once in collegiate singles play — Vidmanova beat Broadus at the 2022 Battle in the Bay — Vidmanova and Broadus squared off twice in doubles action this past May. Vidmanova and the Bulldogs won both times. Their match starts at 10 a.m. CT/8 a.m. PT.
All matches will be livestreamed via ESPN+ and will have color commentary from Cracked Racquets. Pertinent links can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
RESULTS
Singles Second Round
#9-16 Savannah Broadus def. Annabelle Xu (UVA) 6-0, 6-3
Doubles First Round
Guillermina Grant/Aysegul Mert (UGA) def. #4 Savannah Broadus/Vivian Yang 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (16-14)
