Sunday, July 15, 2001
Luzhanka beats Met champ in semis
Molony-Hussey makes 3rd straight title match
By Dave Schutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Tanya Luzhanka
(Brandi Stafford photo)
| ZOOM |
|
Motivation comes in different ways for athletes. For Tanya Luzhanka, it was reading in Saturday's Enquirer that defending Thomas E. Price Metropolitan Tennis Championships women's champion Emelia Anderson was favored to win in the semifinals.
“There was no way I was going to lose, because I had to prove him wrong,” the 16-year-old Ukrainian native said of Craig Boynton, a three-time Met champion who was quoted as giving an edge to Anderson. “It was a tough match and (Anderson) is a good player.”
Luzhanka rallied for a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Anderson. She'll play Kara Molony-Hussey, who defeated her younger sister Lyndsey 6-2, 6-3, in today's final.
The championship match is scheduled for noon. Admission is $2.
“The key (today) will be how much Tanya has left after today's grind,” said Boynton, who works with Luzhanka. “Kara played early and will be more rested.”
Anderson, the No. 6 singles player for Stanford's NCAA women's champion team, appeared confident in Saturday's first set, breaking Luzhanka three times.
But Luzhanka, who holds the No. 50 world ranking in the 18-and-under juniors and is No. 700 in the world in the senior rankings, came out strong in the second set, breaking Anderson twice for a 4-0 lead. After the second break, the momentum had swung in Luzhanka's favor.
“I told myself in between sets to get more aggressive and go for it,” Luzhanka said. “She seemed a little tired because there were a lot of long points in the first set.”
Luzhanka's strategy was to play Anderson's backhand as much as possible, taking away her strong forehand.
“In the third set, she (Anderson) took a lot of pace off the ball,” Luzhanka said. “I also switched strategy and just kept the ball in play, waiting for an opportunity.”
Luzhanka took a 4-1 lead in the third set, but Anderson broke to get to 4-3. Luzhanka held serve twice to close out a match that took more than two hours to complete.
During the last six months, Luzhanka has played in numerous junior tournaments throughout Europe, including the French Open and Wimbledon.
At Wimbledon, Luzhanka won a singles qualifying match before losing in the second round. She was eliminated in the first round of the main draw in doubles.
As for today's final, Luzhanka said: “I watched (Molony-Hussey) play a little, and she's very good. It should be a good match.”
In her semifinal, Molony-Hussey was in control from the start and never let up. She broke at 3-2 in the first set and 1-0 in the second as she advanced to the championship match for the third consecutive year.
“We both played loose, but the difference was that I focused on winning the big points,” Molony-Hussey said. “It's not a fun match playing your sister. I avoided all eye contact and tried to stay focused.”
Lyndsey Molony made no excuses.
“We play so much that Kara knew how to play me and I knew what to expect from her,” she said. “I don't like playing Kara, and it wouldn't bother me if we never played again.”
Molony-Hussey won the Met championship in 1999 but lost in the final last year to Anderson.
“I didn't train much last year and had many other things on my mind, like planning my wedding,” Molony-Hussey said. “This year I'm focused and practiced more coming in.”
Sports Stories
Reds 6, Indians 5
Rijo allows 2 runs in Triple-A start
Same old Sabo
Ten Reasons Why Reds Fans Loved Sabo
Casey to have MRI on injured ankle
Fan's eye view of the Reds
Graves' defense saves Reds
What's wrong with Rocker?
Reds-Tigers Scouting Report
Reds box, runs
QB job Kitna's to lose
LeBeau planning to make early mark
Bengals training camp information
Luzhanka beats Met champ in semis
