Saratoga's Gordon verbally commits to Stanford

Michaela Gordon lines up a forehand during her loss to Storm
Sanders of Australia in the first round of the $50,000 Stockton
Challenger in July. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The defending national champion Stanford women have received their second verbal commitment from a San Francisco Bay Area star in the last four months.
   This one likely will enroll.
   Michaela Gordon, 17, said she will attend Stanford, a 20-minute drive up Interstate 280 from her home in Saratoga, beginning in the fall of 2017.
   "It came down to Duke and Stanford," Gordon, a two-time Wimbledon girls quarterfinalist who's ranked fifth in the Class of 2017, told tennisrecruiting.net. "Aside from those schools, I didn't really look anywhere else. I went on unofficial visits, and both are amazing schools, obviously.
   "At Stanford, I really loved the campus, which I was really familiar with anyway. And when I talked with the girls on the team, I felt I fit in really well. I love all the girls on the team, and that was a really important thing. The coaches were important as well. It was a really good fit for me, the perfect fit."
   Gordon's father, Robert, is a heart surgeon, and her mother, LuShan, was a dentist. Michaela said she has "always put academics as a priority. I'm home-schooled, but I've always been into school and always been a good student."
   Gordon has played extensively on the USTA Pro Circuit, reaching the quarterfinals in Redding at 15. She is ranked No. 760 in the world after climbing as high as No. 600 in April.
   CiCi Bellis, also 17, verbally committed to Stanford, a five-minute drive from her home in Atherton, in July but turned pro in September after reaching the third round of the U.S. Open as a qualifier.
   Last week, Bellis won her second consecutive $50,000 Canadian indoor hardcourt tournament to crack the top 100 in the world for the first time at No. 90.
   Stanford leads all schools with 18 NCAA women's team titles. Next is Florida with six. Duke has one.