Varvara Lepchenko Wins Last 30 Games of Tournament to Win Phoenix Title

PETE ZIEBRON

 

 

 

Varvara Lepchenko serves to Sacha Jones in the Final of the Goldwater Tennis Classic.

 

 

Two impressive and unusual tennis streaks came to meet at the Final of the Goldwater Women’s Tennis Classic at the Phoenix Country Club on Sunday.  Sacha Jones, winner of 24 straight matches and Varvara Lepchenko, owner of 18 consecutive games met on Stadium Court on a beautiful, sun-kissed 68F autumn day in Phoenix, Arizona.  One streak would still be intact at the conclusion of the Final and amazingly it would be Lepchenko’s streak of consecutive games.

 

 

Varvara Lepchenko of the United States via Uzbekistan, continued to play brilliant tennis in the Final and defeated Sacha Jones of New Zealand 6-0 6-0.  The match lasted just 47 minutes and Jones had to wonder if she were hitting against a wall as everything she hit came back at her, most of the time with more velocity.  Meanwhile, Lepchenko never faced a break point in the match and emphatically ended each set with an ace. 

 

 

During Friday’s quarterfinal match against American Coco Vandeweghe, Lepchenko found herself tied at one set apiece.  From that point forward, Lepchenko did not drop a single game for the rest of the tournament, winning the third set against Vandeweghe 6-0.  Next, Lepchenko cruised through Saturday’s semifinal match against Paraguay’s Rosana De Los Rios 6-0 6-0 in 63 minutes and finally she would be the first player in twenty-five matches to solve the game of the promising young upstart from New Zealand, Sacha Jones 6-0   6-0. 

 

 

“Too good” would be an understatement for the quality of tennis that Varvara Lepchenko exhibited during her last five sets of action in Phoenix.  Consider the fact that Sacha Jones dropped only one set coming into the Final as well the fact that she lost only 9 games in the 6 sets of tennis that she won prior to Sunday’s Final.  Lepchenko’s groundstrokes were simply lethal time and time again over the weekend and as a result, she was rewarded with her second title of 2009.

 

 

Where Lepchenko will play next in an attempt to continue her 30 game streak is undetermined at this time as shortly after her victory, she withdrew from next week’s tournament in Toronto.  Sacha Jones plans to play her next tournament in Japan, according to her brother GD Jones.