Graham Advances at NCAA Tennis Meet

Sixth-seeded Debbie Graham of Fountain Valley beat the heat and two opponents on Monday to move into the third round of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships at Gainesville, Fla.

Graham, a Stanford sophomore, defeated UCLA’s Iwalani McCalla, 6-2, 6-3, in the first round and Jolene Watanabe of Nevada Las Vegas, 6-1, 6-3, in the second round.

“I’m at the top of my game right now,” Graham said. “It’s close to 90 degrees and the humidity has been really bad here. I have an advantage because I’m in the best shape I’ve been in and I’m not as tired as the other players.”

Graham, 38-4 this season in singles and winner of the Pacific-10 women’s singles championship at Ojai last month, faces Georgia senior Stacey Schefflin in today’s round of 16. Graham has not faced Schefflin this year, but won all three meetings between the two last year.

“She’s been working on her serve-and-volley game and playing very aggressively,” Graham said of Schefflin. “Right now, my serve and coming to the net are my strengths. I’m trying to just end the points and not make the matches as long as they could be so I don’t get so tired.”