SMU’s Amelie Van Impe dominates to seal 4-2 win over Syracuse
SMU freshman Amelie Van Impe dominated Syracuse Sunday, winning her doubles match and nearly defeating Anastasia Sysoeva in singles for the Mustangs' 4-2 win. Charlie Hynes | Staff Photographer
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Last week, Southern Methodist freshman Amelie Van Impe shocked the collegiate tennis world by dominating North Carolina’s Reese Brantmeier, who was then the top singles player in the country.
Riding that high, Van Impe marched her SMU squad into Drumlins Country Club to take on Syracuse, hoping to build on last week’s momentum.
She did so in dominant fashion. Behind her win in doubles and her near-victory over Anastasia Sysoeva in singles, the Mustangs (9-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) outlasted the Orange (5-6, 1-3 ACC) 4-2 Sunday to escape Drumlins with a third ACC victory under their belt.
That early doubles dominance wasn’t much of a surprise. In doubles, Van Impe and her partner Caroline McGinley haven’t lost a match all season. They’ve won all nine of their games together, including three wins against ranked opponents.
Syracuse’s No. 1 pair of Sysoeva and Nelly Knezkova stood no chance against the Mustangs’ duo, and fell 6-2 in the match.
During match point, Van Impe stood near the net in the right service box and stretched out to return the ball just over the net before Sysoeva slammed it right back at her. Unfazed, the freshman calmly brought her racket up and deflected the hard shot back over the net, where the Orange were unable to return it in bounds.
The Mustang duo dominated the front court and never relented in applying pressure, taking an easy win over Syracuse’s top duo. The win preserved Van Impe and McGinley’s undefeated doubles record, improving to 10-0.
In singles, Van Impe and Sysoeva went head-to-head yet again.
The match started in Sysoeva’s favor, as she took a 2-1 lead. Grunts echoed around Drumlins as the two went back and forth with long, exhaustive rallies pushing both to their breaking point.
Tensions rose as the match progressed. In the eighth game, with Sysoeva winning 4-3, she hit a ball to the far left corner, which the umpire called out. Van Impe approached the umpire’s chair, visibly upset, and argued the call was unfair.
Van Impe’s competitive nature was on display all afternoon. She screamed after each point won, pumping herself up and pushing herself to her limit.
The set continued into a tiebreak and ended with Van Impe taking it 7-6 in grueling fashion. In total, the first set took nearly an hour and finished around the same time that Emma Scaldalai lost her match in straight sets.
Despite the deficit, Limam said that he was proud of Sysoeva’s effort.
“She put her heart and soul into the match,” Limam said. “It was really fun to watch her compete at that level.”
In the second set between Sysoeva and Van Impe, exhaustion took over. Van Impe, unrelenting, applied pressure and never let Sysoeva catch her breath.
When asked what impact exhaustion had on the second set, Limam said that he thought Sysoeva did a good job of staying in the match.
“I thought (her energy) was pretty high in the second set. I think a lot of it is that belief that you get from winning the first set.”
Van Impe was one point away from victory, leading the game 40-30 with a 5-2 lead in the match before it was abandoned. McGinley had already won her match — and the overall match — for the Mustangs.
The 21-year-old Belgian native is one of the most dominant freshmen in the country. With a doubles win and a dominant effort in her unfinished singles match, she showed why against the Orange.
