Women’s Intercollegiate Invitational Tennis : Stanford’s Patty Fendick Adds Still Another Title to Her College Credit

When Patty Fendick defeated Gretchen Rush in the NCAA championship singles final last May, most people probably thought the proper thing was to congratulate her Stanford coach, Frank Brennan, and then offer him condolences.

After all, Fendick would surely not bother to stick around for one more year. It’s practically an NCAA tradition to collect your trophy and immediately start collecting big bucks.

But Brennan wasn’t worried. If anyone was apt to break with tradition, it would be Fendick.

“There was no doubt in my mind,” he said. “We had talked about it before the NCAAs.”

The NCAA victory and a third-round Wimbledon result didn’t sway her, either. Fendick told a reporter that turning pro would have been unthinkable, especially after she had dreamed about graduating from Stanford since childhood.

“I wish I had known that when I was trying to recruit her,” Brennan said, laughing.

And he was smiling again after Fendick solidified her position in college tennis with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Stephanie Harges of USC in the Women’s Intercollegiate Invitational Tennis Championships Sunday at the Riviera Tennis Club.

Fendick, the first female in five years to return to defend her NCAA title, is ranked No. 4 in the collegiate poll but that is based on a fall tournament she didn’t play in.

After missing the fall season because of a nagging hip injury, Fendick has won the first two collegiate tournaments of 1987. At the National Collegiate tournament earlier this month in Cathedral City, she defeated teammate Lisa Green, 6-4, 7-6, in the final. In the semifinals there, Fendick beat her formidable rival Caroline Kuhlman of USC in three sets.

Harges also lost to Fendick at Cathedral City, and the Sunday’s result was even more one-sided. At 2-2 in the first set, Fendick, won eight straight games to go up, 6-2, 4-0, before Harges won another game. In all, Harges held serve once.

“She’s still as tough as ever,” said Harges, who was seeded third. “I don’t know how much she raised her game. We had a lot of 3-3 games. Even though the score was closer last time (6-4, 6-1), I thought I hit the ball more solidly today.”

However, in the meantime, Fendick, who was top-seeded here, had already become match-tough. At Cathedral City, she felt lucky to win after a long layoff. So far, in 1987 the pressures of trying to repeat apparently don’t bother Fendick.

“No, I don’t feel very much,” she said. “If I lose to someone, I lose. I don’t really care. But there is some (pressure). For example, I was terrible when I was 12 and I wanted to win. That was pressure.”

Fendick plans to play in three pro tournaments this winter, providing that a wild-card is available.

“I need to get into some events because my ranking is 93 . . . and dropping rapidly.”

Which, most likely, is the only thing going downhill for Fendick these days.

Stanford was expected to make a favorable showing in the invitational, but the Cardinal girls may have exceeded Brennan’s expectations.

Fendick and Stephanie Savides defeated Cal’s Sharon Fletcher and Caroline Yao, 6-0, 6-4, in the doubles final. In addition to Fendick, Stanford had two players in the singles quarterfinals (Cari Hagey and Green) and one in the third round (Savides).

“It’s a little bit scary because we’re usually not this good this time of the year,” Brennan said.

Here’s another indication of the defending NCAA team champion’s strength: Stanford is missing two of its top six players, Eleni Rossides and Leigh Anne Eldredge, who are both out with injuries.