©Colette Lewis 2008--
Tampa, FL--
Unseeded Jacqueline Kasler and fourth seed Eugene Dolgovykh captured sectional titles on a cool and breezy Monday morning at the City of Tampa Tennis Complex at Hillsborough Community College.
Kasler defeated No. 4 seed Cassandra Herzberg 7-5, 6-2 to vanquish her fourth seed on a list that included No. 5 seed Carling Seguso, No. 3 seed Olivia Janowicz and No. 7 seed Danielle Collins.
"I've been practicing really hard so I knew I could do well," Kasler said in answer to a question about her expectations coming into the tournament. "But I had a really tough draw, so I didn't think I'd do this well."
The final was a contrast in styles, with the hard-hitting Herzberg, who hits two-handed on both forehand and backhand sides, frustrated by the defense and variety of Kasler.
"I had to be consistent, keep it deep, because she pounds the ball," said the 16-year-old Kasler, from Pensacola. "I knew I couldn't outhit her so, I had to be consistent and come in when I could."
Both players had set points in the multi-deuce 12th game of the first set, with Herzberg serving to get into the tiebreaker. It was Kasler who eventually converted, and an increasingly frustrated Herzberg saw her unforced errors multiply.
Temperatures in the mid-50s and a steady north wind made for challenging conditions, but Kasler thought they gave her an advantage.
"The wind helped a little bit with her," said Kasler. "She nails the ball and I got passed a lot, but I had to grind, had to stay in the match."
Unlike Kasler, who won two three-set matches on her way to the title, Dolgovykh didn't lose a set in any of his five wins, although he did need three tiebreakers, including one in his 6-3, 7-6(6) finals victory over No. 2 seed Sekou Bangoura Jr.
The first set saw the 18-year-old Dolgovykh take charge with his serve and forehand, but Bangoura, who typically starts slowly, began to work his way into the match taking leads of 2-0 and 3-1 before Dolgovykh pulled even at 3-3. When Dolgovykh broke Bangoura for the third straight time for a 4-3 lead, it looked as if the muscular right-hander from Palm Coast might come through with a routine win, but it got much more complicated than that. Dolgovykh double faulted on game point to make it 4-4, and after each held in their next service games, Bangoura returned the favor in the 11th game, giving Dolgovykh the chance to serve out the match.
He recovered from a 15-40 hole to pull it to deuce and then earned his chance to finish the match--twice.
"I had a couple of match points and choked a little bit, but he played a lot of really good points when it came down to it," said Dolgovykh, who finished points at the net with much less frequency than he had in the match's earlier stages. "He was passing well, and I was a little nervous, my feet weren't moving as quick. I felt like I wanted to come in, but I just wasn't coming in."
Dolgovykh took leads of 4-1 and 6-3 in the tiebreaker, with neither player holding serve with any regularity. Serving at 6-3, Dolgovykh thought he had won the match when he called Bangoura's shot long of the baseline, but the umpire standing on court didn't agree, and the match continued.
"I called it out, I saw it clearly out, by an inch, but the ref overruled it when later he told me he didn't see it," said Dolgovykh, who has signed an NLI to play at Central Florida. "That could have been the match right there, it could have gone three sets. Luckily I won, but I was really upset."
Dolgovykh made two forehand errors to force another change of ends and he admitted that the controversy had affected his concentration. "In the next two points I tried to win them too quick and that didn't work. Luckily he made an unforced error in the end and I won."
The third place matches were also straight set contests. Danielle Collins defeated Kelly Kambourelis 6-2, 6-2 and Blas Moros beat Billy Federhofer 6-4, 6-0.
The consolation winners played three matches Monday to decide fifth place. The girls' winner was Carling Seguso, who lost to Kasler in the second round of the main draw. Seguso, who lost the first four games of the match, came back to defeat Kayla Rizzolo in the consolation finals 6-4, 6-3. Mark Schanerman took fifth place in the boys' 18s with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Michael Basile.
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