Having already beaten Berkeley and Stanford at No. 1 singles a fortnight ago to concoct a rare "Bay Area Sweep", Hong Kong's Venise Chan (Washington), currently ranked 24th in all of NCAA, again duplicated back-to-back victories at the one spot against UCLA and USC this past weekend to complete an amazing four-timer over traditional Pac-10 powerhouses in the same season.

Following an excellent rookie season that saw her compete in one of the toughest conferences in US collegiate tennis last year, Venise Chan continues to fly the Hong Kong flag with honour and notability.

A fortnight ago, the Washington sophomore conjured an extraordinary "Bay Area Sweep" when she beat the number ones from Berkeley and Stanford on their opponents' home courts in back-to-back dual matches.

After seeing off 10th-ranked Jana Juricova (Berkeley) in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, on February 27, Venise produced a stirring finish after trailing in the third-set super-tiebreak to win, 6-3, 4-6, [10-7], against 11th-ranked Hilary Barte (Stanford) the following day.

This past weekend, she added two more spirit-stirring wins at number one singles by first gunning down 16th-ranked Yasmin Schnack (UCLA), 6-3, 7-6(0), on Friday. The following day, the sophomore dictated play against 33rd-ranked Sarah Fansler (USC), running her opponent ragged with her trademark wide-angles and touch shots to yield only four games, winning it in the end in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

As a rookie during the 2006-07 season, Sarah Fansler was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and the ITA National Rookie of the Year. Moreover, she ended that standout season as a singles All-American and was named an ITA College All-Star.

Last season, Venise managed to beat Suzi Babos (Berkeley) and Lindsey Nelson (USC) at No. 1 singles but narrowly lost out to both Hilary Barte (Stanford) and Riza Zalameda (UCLA) in a decisive third set.

Yet despite winning at the one spot against the four traditional Pac-10 powerhouses thus far this season – an extraordinary achievement in its own right – the overall impact she has brought to UW since arriving from Hong Kong as a freshman in Fall 2007 must not be overlooked.

Earlier last month, Venise appeared in a segment under King5.com, a local station that provides general news and sports coverage in and around the Seattle area.

Watch video highlights (www.King5.com, 24 Mar 2009)

Six Questions with University of Washington No. 1 Venise Chan

Suffice to say, no player from Hong Kong has ever managed the uncanny 4-timer at number one singles against Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, and USC in the same season.

The former Marymount Secondary School student, who owns girls' singles titles at the HK National Junior Championships in each of the five age groups contested, not to mention Ladies' Open Singles titles at the SCAA Open, CRC Open, and the HK Nationals, took the time to answer six questions posed by Tennishk.org:

Q: How tough is the overall competition at the NCAA Division 1 level compared to, say, tennis on the ITF World Junior Circuit?

Venise Chan (VC): I was amazed by the level of tennis in college, and it just gets tougher each year. The competitive level is higher, I would say. There really are a lot of great players out there, even if you've never seen them in the ITFs. They are good.

I will say the mentality is quite different because with dual matches, you don't get soft early round matches to ease yourself into a tournament. In college dual matches, you have to be prepared to go against other top players at any given weekend, and most of the time in back-to-back matches.

Q: Which do you consider your best wins since arriving at UW?

VC: Ranking-wise, best win was probably against the 2006 NCAA champion, Suzi Babos, who was No. 7 when I beat her during a dual match. Personally, the wins against Berkeley and Stanford just recently are the best because they gave me the most confidence and the fact that they were against good schools with good teams.

Q: And if you were to compare those wins to the win against Iroda Tulyaganova during Fed Cup 2007?

VC: Well, that's tough to say. But in America, I learnt different things, and received consistent advice, which I think definitely helped improve my game.

Q: Being the No. 1 player for a school in the ultra-competitive Pac-10 Conference, even when you were a freshman, has there been a lot of pressure on you?

VC: Not really because I was still an unknown player to the others, so it's always good to start from there! I mean, I didn't feel the pressure of having to win every time I stepped on court, that sort thing, not as a freshman anyways. But the pressure will definitely increase each year because you are expected to do well now.

Q: With the number of matches you have to play during the season, not to mention all the training, practices, travelling, etc, how do you cope with being essentially a full-time student and tennis player?

VC: I guess you need to have the desire and motivation to do it, and to do it well. Of course, good time management and self-discipline is very important also.

Q: If you weren't a tennis player, which other sport do you think you would have excelled in?

VC: Swimming maybe? But a sport that I know I will definitely not excel in would be soccer [Laughs out loud].

Sources:
No. 7 Women of Troy Earn Close Victory Over Washington (usctrojans.cstv.com, 4 Apr 2009)
Venise Chan defeats No. 16 Schnack for her fourth win over a current Top-20 player (gohuskies.com, 3 Apr 2009)

Image Description: University of Washington tennis player Venise Chan, a freshman from Hong Kong, practices with the team at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on March 18, 2008 in Seattle (Photo: Seattle Post-Intelligencer/Joshua Trujillo).