One down, four to go.

Junior Jessica Nguyen of the Stanford women’s tennis team survived the first round of play at the 2007 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Indoor Championships at Columbus, Ohio despite a last-minute change of opponent.

Her 6-3, 6-3 victory over Katarina Zoricic of William & Mary advanced the junior one step closer to the finals of the Indoors, perhaps one of the toughest tournaments of the season. The draw features the top 32 players in the nation by invitation only.

Moreover, Nguyen faces the responsibility of being the lone Cardinal woman at the event.

“It’s pretty intense,” Nguyen said. “Everyone is here to get wins and improve their rankings this season. It’s probably more intense for me because I’m the only person here from Stanford on the women’s side.”

Earlier, Nguyen was slated to face Armstrong Pacific’s Johanna Dahlback in her first match. However, Zoricic was a late replacement for Dahlback, who is the ITA Small College Champion.

“I just found out that I would play against her last night,” Nguyen said. “I’ve seen her play a little before in the juniors. Katarina was ranked No. 1 in Canada for a while.”

Both players struggled to adjust to the faster indoor courts, but it was Nguyen who came out on top.

“Towards the end, I got my timing down better and I started to pull away, which got her frustrated,” Nguyen said. “Fortunately, I came away with the win.”

Today, Nguyen will face the second seeded Susie Babos of California. The 2006 NCAA singles champion won her first round match 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 against Elena Gantcheva of UNLV.

Though Nguyen was eliminated in the second round at last year’s Indoors, she hopes to have better success this time around.

“I’ve never played her before but I’ve known her for quite a while,” Nguyen said. “I’ve seen teammates play her and she’s a pretty erratic player mentally. I just have to stay focused during tight points and get her frustrated, and hopefully that will be enough to get me into the quarterfinals.”

Despite the uncertainty ahead, Nguyen is content with her play so far.

“It’s always exciting to come here and to come out of the first day with a win, especially representing Stanford.”