After not playing tennis for more than two months while sidelined with an ankle stress fracture, Gail Brodsky knew she was going to be rusty.
But based on Saturday’s semifinal performance at the 121st Pacific Northwest Championships at the Tacoma Lawn and Tennis Club, it looks like the layoff won’t be a factor.
Brodsky, the tournament’s No. 1 seed on the women’s side, rebounded after losing the first set and beat Irina Tereschenko, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, earning a spot in today’s finals against Dasha Ivanova.
“The first time I picked up a racket was Wednesday,” said Brodsky, who’s attempting to become the tournament’s first repeat winner on the women’s side since Cammy MacGregor won in 2000 and 2001. “Everything is good. Everything has healed. I’m just trying to get my form back a little bit.”
After losing the first set, 6-2, Brodsky stormed back to take the second, freezing Tereschenko with a nifty baseline winner to take the second set.
“At the end of the first set, I actually started feeling the ball a little bit,” said the 21-year-old Brooklyn, N.Y., native.
Ivanova secured a spot in the finals after opponent Keren Shlomo retired from the match after losing the first game, 1-0. Shlomo had to leave Tacoma on Saturday afternoon to make an appearance at the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open in British Columbia, where any points earned go toward her WTA ranking.
On the men’s side, Brian Wilson defeated Marton Bots, the University of Washington’s No. 2 player, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the finals in his first-ever appearance at the tournament.
“I kind of turned on the engine (down) 2-1 in the first set there and won five in a row,” said Wilson, a teaching professional who helps run Northwest High Performance, a tennis academy in Kirkland and Bellevue. “My short slice … he wasn’t reading it very well. He was trying to do a little too much with it. So I felt like I could keep him off balance with my slice. The second set I started to serve better. Slice and serve are always keys for me.”
Wilson will meet Clement Reix, the men’s No.1 overall seed, in today’s finals.
Reix beat Clancy Shields, 7-6, 6-3, featuring a first set that lasted as long as Wilson and Bots’ entire match.
In men’s doubles action, Bots and Max Manthou defeated Luke and Clancy Shields, 7-6, 6-3. They will face Wilson and Cameron Klinger, 6-4, 6-1 winners over Brian Battistone and Trevor Dobson in today’s final.
In the women’s open final, Denise Dy and Tereschenko will face Brodsky and Suzanne Matzenauer. The mixed open finals features Matzenauer and Nathaniel Schnugg vs. Battistone and Brodsky.
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