CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami freshman Estela Perez-Somarriba has always admired women’s tennis star Serena Williams.
“She plays really aggressive,” Perez-Somarriba said.
Perez-Somarriba has always tried to model her game after Williams.
It was that model that propelled her to an incredible 30-6 record prior to competing in the NCAA Singles Championship.
“When you come in, you work hard and you are just doing things right every day, good things happen,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews said.
Once the NCAA Tournament began, good things absolutely did happen for Perez-Somarriba, as she advanced to the Final Four of the Women’s Singles Championship.
The Madrid native entered the championship ranked No. 40 nationally and was among 12 freshmen in the NCAA Singles Championship.
“Obviously, I really wanted to make it to the NCAA’s,” Perez-Somarriba said. “When I knew that I had made it I was excited, but I really didn’t expect to do what I did.”
Perez-Somarriba opened the tournament against No. 64 Ana Oparenovic of Arkansas and in the early going appeared to have some early tournament jitters. Perez-Somarriba dropped five games in a row to open the contest en route to losing the first set, 1-6.
“In the beginning, I was thinking all the time,” Perez-Somarriba said. “I would see all the girls playing and would see their tennis level and I felt that I needed to play my best tennis. Obviously, before a few matches I was nervous, but as the tournament went on I think my tennis got better and that was the most important thing.”
Following the first set, Perez-Somarriba’s jitters cooled. She took over the match, winning 12 of the next 14 games, including 10 of the final 11, en route to advancing.
Perez-Somarriba’s next match placed her against No. 27 Arianne Hartono of Ole Miss.
“She played a big hitter, a girl who had the ability to push her around the court and she was able to push back,” Yaroshuk-Tews said.
Despite Hartono’s big hitting ability, Perez posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory to advance to the Sweet 16. Perez-Somarriba dropped the first two games in the match and then went on to win 12 of the final 17 points.
“It was high-quality tennis [with] deep balls and playing the patterns that were really played well on both sides, by both kids,” Yaroshuk-Tews said. “Estela was just able to keep the quality of tennis going a little bit longer in each point.”
In the Sweet 16, Perez-Somarriba defeated No. 47 Mia Horvit of South Carolina 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in a match which spanned nearly three hours. Her three set victory made her the fourth freshman in program history to earn a spot in the NCAA quarterfinals.
Perez-Somarriba would then cement herself into the University of Miami record books.
With a two-set victory over No. 26 Kate Fahey of Michigan, she became the first freshman in Miami’s storied history to make it to the national semifinals following a 6-4, 6-3 win.
Not only was it a great individual achievement for Perez-Somarriba, but it also made Miami the only team in the nation in women’s or men’s tennis to place a player in the Final Four in each of the last three years, after Sinead Lohan and Stephanie Wagner made it in 2016 and 2015, respectively.
“[My coaches] told me that I needed to fight every single match,” Perez-Somarriba said. “[They said] that you need to fight and you need to believe that you can win. They told me that I was going to be fine, that I had done a very good job during the season and to just keep it up.”
Unfortunately, the Final Four was where the Cinderella story ended for the lowest-ranked player to make the Final Four since 2011, as she dropped a 1-6, 7-5, 3-6 decision to sixth-ranked Belinda Woolcock of Florida.
Perez-Somarriba, however, did not go out without a fight. After losing 11 of the first 13 games, she won six games in a row and fought back to force a third set. Although she fell, 3-6, in the finale, it capped an incredible tournament run.
“I didn’t want to finish my season like that,” Perez-Somarriba said of how she stormed back from the 1-6, 1-5 deficit. “I wasn’t playing the right tennis and I knew that I needed to change something and I felt that I did that pretty well, but in the third set I needed to be better. Plus, Woolcock was playing very well.”
The run will go down in the history books for Miami, but Perez-Somarriba and her coaches believe that the experience will also help her in the long run.
“Definitely, I think that I’ve learned a lot,” Perez-Somarriba said. “I’ve seen these girls, I’ve seen how they prepare for every match, I’ve seen how they fight and believe they can win; that’s the most important thing. Tennis is about fighting.
“It’s special for me,” Perez-Somarriba said of her run to Final Four. “I try not to think that much about that. All these things about rankings and results, to me, are not the best things about tennis. To me, it’s always about improving on the court.”
Whatever comes next for Perez-Somarriba, it’s fair to say the future is bright for this freshman phenom.