Zsilinszka Downs Lui to Capture Girls Spring National Title

Zsilinszka Downs Lui to Capture Girls 18s Spring National Title~~~
©Colette Lewis 2006
Mobile--

Reka Zsilinszka hates to lose. Stung by her defeat at the hands of Lindsay Burdette in last year's spring Nationals in Mobile, she was determined to do whatever necessary to avoid that feeling in this year's tournament, and she did. Her 6-4, 6-4 win over fourth seed Lauren Lui earned her a second gold ball to go with her 14s national title, but the sixteen-year-old from North Carolina acknowledged that Lui was not her only obstacle.

"The circumstances made it tough today," the Slovakian-born righthander said. "It was the final and last year here, I just didn't play well, making all sorts of errors, so I didn't want to do the same thing this year. And she's just a really good player--she's consistent, she's a lefty and her serve has that really weird spin, she has really solid volleys."

Having lost only thirteen games in the six matches prior to the final, Zsilinzska's counterpunching consistency has baffled every opponent, and Lui thought perhaps she had erred in attempting to rally with the second seed.


"Toward the end (at 2-5 in the second) I tried to go for it, since I was down, and it worked a little bit better," said Lui, who will attend Northwestern University in the fall. "So maybe if I was more agressive earlier on, it might have made a difference."

Zsilinszka agreed.

"I got to a pretty big lead, 5-2, and maybe started thinking about the gold ball, but after the changeover, she came out like a new player, hitting big shots, big volleys, she didn't miss anything, so she won two fast games."

At 5-4, Zsilinszka doubled faulted on her first match point, and although her outward appearance never changed, she was seething inside.

"In my head I was cursing and throwing my racquet, all kinds of things, but I didn't show it," said Zsilinszka, who is talkative and sociable off the court, but stoic and unflappable on it. "But then I somehow won another point and she missed an easy volley, kind of giving it to me."

Actually Lui had total control of the point from the outset, but Zsilinszka retreated to the baseline, got overheads, volleys, drop shots and groundstrokes back over the net time after time until Lui finally missed. It was the story of the match in a nutshell, evidence of Zsilinszka's strategy to stay out of a pace war with Lui.

"I saw her play yesterday against Claire (Rietsch) and they were both smacking it. I thought she was pretty good at that. I thought if she got into that rhythm--heavy, flat, deep--she could maybe be better at that than me. I thought I could out-steady her and it worked."

By outthinking and outplaying everyone in Mobile, Zsilinszka avoided the dreaded loss and proved to herself that she could handle the pressure of a National final when she got a second chance.

"I was so nervous," said Zsilinszka, who is on a nineteen match winning streak. "It takes a different kind of mentality to win a final, especially a Supernational. It's a whole different thing."

But the rest of the juniors are now on alert. Zsilinszka has shown she's learning quickly.

In the consolation final, Julia Boserup defeated Magdalena Bresson 6-3, 6-4. Melissa Saiontz took the bronze ball with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Claire Reitsch. Third place in girls doubles went to Kristy Frilling and Carolyn McVeigh with their 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 win over Holly Johnson and Caitlin Whoriskey.

For full draws see usta.com.

For additional coverage of the Spring Nationals visit Marcia Frost at collegeandjuniortennis.com