NCW4.5-Open Singles Champions-NRC

Singles is a great way to see your strengths and weaknesses. No partner to blame. There’s only yourself to figure out how you are going to counter your opponent. In some cases, you’ve played your opponent multiple times and you know what you need to do but sometimes the execution is difficult to implement. In other cases, you’ve never encountered your opponent but have been given some tips on how to play them. Such was the case in the matchups in the NCW4.5-Open Finals. Northbrook was meeting Midtown-Bannockburn 2 for the 2nd year in a row. On court 1, MTB’s Sunatcha Breslow played a long match against NRC’s Terri Gordon. Both know each other’s game well. As Terri put it, “Sunatcha’s going to bring me into the net and then lob me.” Sunatcha’s strategy worked but she had to work hard for every point 7-6(7), 5-7, 1-0(2). On court 2, NRC’s Linda Traeger and MTB’s Megumi Grove had never played each other before. Both players have a great all-around game with pinpoint groundstrokes and the ability to take time away from their opponent. After being down most of the 1st set Linda pulled ahead to win 7-5 only to lose some steam in the 2nd set, losiing 2-6, before winning the match tie-breaker 10-8. On court 3, NRC’s Ann Taylor (yours truly) played against MTB’s Susan Heiser. Susan has been working on her game and came on like gangbusters. She took the lead and was ahead 3-0, when Ann buckled down and closed out the set and match 6-3, 6-2. On court 4, NRC’s Liesel Jankelowitz played against Karyn Sardar. Karyn suffered her only loss against Liesel during the regular season. Liesel played aggressively in the 1st set and won 6-0 but Karyn pushed back only to succumb 6-3 in the 2nd set. Pictured from L-R: Linda Traeger, Terri Gordon, Ann Taylor, Liesel Jankelowitz