Gail Brodsky hardly looked like someone who had been nursing an injury for the past two months.
The top-seeded Brodsky won her second consecutive title at the 121st Pacific Northwest Open Tennis Championships, defeating Dasha Ivanova, 6-2, 6-4, in the finals Sunday at the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club.
Brodsky, 21, becomes the first back-to-back winner in the women’s tournament since Cammy MacGregor posted consecutive titles in 2000 and 2001.
Sidelined for close to two months with an ankle stress fracture, Brodsky rallied twice by winning the final three games to win the first set, 6-2, then dropped the first two games in the second set before winning four consecutive games en route to capturing the set, 6-4.
“I was a little concerned coming in with how I would play since … this is my first time back after the injury,” said Brodsky, who beat second-seeded Denise Dy in the finals last year, “but it felt great. I didn’t feel any effects of the injury.”
Brodsky, of Brooklyn, N.Y., advanced to the championship round by rallying to beat unseeded Irina Tereschenko, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the semifinals.
Ivanova, who was unseeded in the tournament, secured her place in the finals after second-seeded Keren Shlomo was forced to retire from their semifinal matchup on Saturday.
Shlomo withdrew from the tournament to play at the Odlum Brown Vancouver Open in British Columbia. The bye into the finals left Ivanova the fresher of the two final participants, but Ivanova registered several unforced errors, racking up nine double faults, including three in the pivotal fifth game of the second set, before falling to Brodsky.
“I just tried to play point-to-point, game-to-game today,” Brodsky said. “I worked extremely hard to get back on the court, put in a lot of hours. It feels good to just be able to play tennis again.”
Brodsky, ranked 201 by the WTA, didn’t rule out returning next year to win a third consecutive title.
“I love it here,” she said. “I am going to try to keep coming back every chance I get.”
Top-seeded Clement Reix defeated Brian Wilson, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. to win the men’s singles tournament.
This marked the second consecutive appearace for Reix, a former Clemson University star and France native who is currently No. 420 in the ATP rankings.
Reix lost in the round of 16 at last year’s Pacific Northwest Open.
“It ended up being another fantastic year for this tournament,” said Mark Hanson, Director of Tennis at the Tacoma Lawn Tennis Club. “Interest continues to grow year-to-year.”
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