Sanchez, Bektas in Coleman finals
Weather delays push back doubles semis
Much of last week at the Coleman Vision Tennis Championships the sun shined radiantly and big crowds cheered wildly as the Corley sisters made history playing singles and doubles at the Tanoan Country Club event.
In the 20 years the tournament has been held, no local player had come even close to advancing as far as the Corleys did.
There were no great bursts of cheering Saturday, nor did the sun shine at all. However, approximately 200 spectators showed up. The wind blew often for much of the day, thunder boomed periodically and storm clouds visited now and then.
Threats of rain emerged, first as trickles during the morning. The real deal came at midafternoon, which caused weather delays in a doubles semifinal match.
Maria Sanchez, a familiar face at the Coleman over the past six years and a singles winner here in 2012, moved on to the singles finals by stopping tall, willowy Sophie Chang, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Sanchez, 28, played college tennis at the University of Southern California where she was a three-time All-American. Chang, 20, did not play college
tennis. She grew up in Havre de Grace, Md., and did well in the juniors.
In the second singles, Emina Bektas, of Bosnian ancestry but born in Germany, took care of Sherazad Reix of France, 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Chang leaped out in front in her match by playing steadier on the ground, with a torrid backhand drives and punishing serves. Periodically she practiced her ball toss at the baseline or back of it. She did this quite often, in fact. Afterward she said, “I developed a bad habit when I was younger of using a bent elbow when I serve. The tossing comes and goes.”
Sanchez said she wasn’t distracted by the Chang’s toss routine. “I just started off real slow. Mentally and physically she’s very good.”
Bektas, who played three years at the University of Michigan, did not have a lot of trouble with Reix (pronounced “Rex”) whose game is a mix of slices, spins, chops and cries aloud en francais. Reix has a crafty left-handed serve, but not when the winds are blowing. “The wind, you see, bothered me.”
Not only did Bektas win the match, she won the hearts of a lot of fans by shaking hands with every lines person afterward.
Chang and Alexandra Mueller won the first semifinal doubles match. They beat Viktorija Golubic and Amra Sadikovic, both of Switzerland, 6-3, 7-6 (7).
At 3:50 p.m., pounding rain and lightning stopped the other doubles semifinal, which pitted Ulrike Eikeri of Norway and An-Sophie Mestach of Belgium against Tara Moore of Great Britain and Conny Perrin of Switzerland.
Lighting and rain continued to 4:15. At 5 p.m. the match was stopped again. More rain and lighting came. A few minutes before 6 p.m., the match was resumed only for it to stop again at 6:15 p.m. for the night. It will be continued at 11 a.m. today.
The doubles final will begin at noon, followed by the singles. Weather permitting, of course.