PETE ZIEBRON in FOUNTAIN HILLS
Samantha Crawford will appear in her 4th ITF Final tomorrow. Pete Ziebron Images
American Samantha Crawford saved a Match Point in the opening semifinal en route to her 4th final of 2015 in defeating #5 seed Rebecca Peterson of Sweden in a highly entertaining tennis match today at CopperWynd Resort & Club in Fountain Hills, Arizona. Next, Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland played steady tennis to open and close the second semifinal match in defeating American Wild Card Robin Anderson to advance to tomorrow's final.
Crawford, the 2012 US Open Junior Champion, will be seeking her first career ITF title. Meanwhile, Golubic is riding a 9 match winning streak as she won last week's $50K ITF event in Waco, Texas. The victory was the 7th ITF title of Golubic's career. Ironically, Golubic will also play in tomorrow's doubles final.
Today's action started at high noon under perfect conditions: temperatures in the high 70's, no wind and a cloudless blue sky. Rebecca Peterson, the lone seed in the semifinals, took the opening service game at love before Crawford reeled off the next 3 games for a 3-1 lead. Peterson would then win 3 consecutive games before Crawford held serve to square the opening set at 4-all. Peterson saved a break point and two deuce points followed before she was able to hold for a 5-4 advantage. Crawford then got a bit tight as she fell behind 0-30 as she proceeded to double fault and then lose the next point to get broken at love as Peterson tallied the opening set 6-4.
Rebecca Peterson in semifinal action in Fountain Hills on Saturday. Pete Ziebron Images
Once again, Peterson would win the opening game of the set to take a 1-0 lead and at this point of the match, she had won 6 of the last 7 games after being down 1-3 in the opening set. Samantha Crawford, however was digging deep and hanging with Peterson, who was unable to take advantage of the fact that Crawford opened her service game at 0-30 in 3 of her next 4 service games.
In the seventh game of the set, Peterson fell behind 0-40. She rallied to get to deuce primarily by employing a tricky 2nd serve kicker time and time again that seemed to handcuff Crawford the way Rafael Nadal's high bouncing deep shots to Roger Federer's backhand have given him fits for over a decade. Peterson's kick serve pulled Crawford out wide time and time again and bailed Peterson out of trouble a couple of times in this particular game and in other situations when she was break point down. Unfortunately for her, Crawford was able to break on her fourth opportunity to take a 4-3 lead in the set.
Immediately following this dramatic game, Crawford would get broken as Peterson finally prevailed on the 3rd break point opportunity in the game. Next, as Peterson served at 4-4, she would stave off 2 break points as an eager Crawford plowed both first serves into the net as Peterson was fortunate to hold serve.
Samantha Crawford now served to stay in the semifinal. Once again, she would fall behind 0-30 as Peterson now stood just two points from a berth in the final. Although Crawford would win the next two points, she would lose the next as Rebecca Peterson held a Match Point. Crawford denied Peterson on the next point and then proceeded to win the next two points to knot the 2nd set at 5-5.
Peterson would win her service game at 30, causing Crawford to once again win her service game to stay in the match. Although the game would reach 30-30 when Crawford double faulted, she would win the next two points to take the 2nd set to a tiebreaker.
Rebecca Peterson would hold leads of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-4 in the breaker, however Crawford would win both of her service points to take a 6-5 lead and also take the point on Peterson's serve as she attempted to tie it at 6 all. After 1 hour and 46 minutes the first semifinal stood at 1 set all.
Samantha Crawford saved a Match Point in the 2nd set of her semifinal. Pete Ziebron Image
Samantha Crawford opened the 3rd set winning the game at love as she capped the game with her 7th ace of the match. This would be her first lead of the match since very early in the opening set. Peterson would then drop the opening point of her service game which meant that Crawford had now won 8 consecutive points. Peterson would win the next two points but struggled throughout the game as she saved 4 break points and eventually held to square the 3rd set at a game apiece.
The next three games were easy service holds as Crawford clung to a 3-2 lead. However, both players saved break points in each of the next three games but eventually held serve.
The drama would continue with Crawford serving at 4-4. She would fall behind 0-30, 30-40 and ad out before winning three consecutive points to lead the final set 5-4
Now Peterson would need to hold serve to say in the match. The Swede would get into a 0-30 hole and then 15-40, as Crawford held a pair of Match Points. This time, Peterson would win four consecutive points to even the final set at 5 all.
Crawford would hold at love, smashing an ace to win the game and Peterson would only drop the first point in her service game as she served to stay in the match as we headed to a final set tiebreaker.
Peterson would double fault as she served at 1-1, Crawford would win both of her service points as well as the first point on Peterson's next serve as the players switched ends with Crawford leading 5-1. Peterson would win the next point as Crawford now served at 5-2. After winning the following point, she hit her 12th ace of the match to win the breaker 7-2 and the match 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(2) in 2 hours and 51 minutes in one of the finest matches I have watched in person.
Following the match I spoke with Lars, who is working with Rebecca Peterson. Lars told me that Samantha Crawford hits the ball as hard as anyone on the WTA Tour. He was very pleased with Peterson's effort and fight and said that it was a very good match.
Next up, Viktorija Golubic of Zurich, who won an ITF $50K event just 6 days ago in Waco, Texas took on former UCLA Bruin Robin Anderson in the second semifinal.
Viktorija Golubic will play the singles & doubles finals at the CopperWynd Challenge tomorrow afternoon. Pete Ziebron Images
Golubic continued the fine form that led her to 8 consecutive wins coming into the semifinal as she raced to leads of 3-0 and 5-1 in the opening set. However, Anderson recovered from 0-30 and 30-40 deficits as she served to stay in the opening set and held serve.
Next, Anderson broke Golubic on her second break point opportunity and denied Golubic as she served for the opening set. The Swiss soon corrected course as she broke Anderson to take the opening set 6-3 in just 40 minutes.
Robin Anderson started to gain confidence near the end of the first set and she held serve each of her first three service games of the second set despite having to save break points against in her first and third service games. Her ability to get out of trouble started to frustrate Golubic as she threw her racquet in disgust a couple of times in frustration of her inability to get the break of serve.
Robin Anderson parlayed her Wild Card into a semifinal berth in Fountain Hills. Pete Ziebron Images
Despite her apparent unhappiness on court, Golubic won the seventh game of the 2nd set at love to take a 4-3 lead. Anderson seemed to follow suit as she raced to a 40-0 lead but would drop the next three points, taking the game to deuce. After winning the next point, Anderson would again drop three consecutive points and Golubic would now serve for a place in the final.
Robin Anderson once again showed poise and fight as she held two break points to get the set back on serve. Golubic would snuff out both points and proceed to hold 3 Match Points. However the determination of Anderson prevented her from winning any of those Match Points. Anderson would actually reach yet another break point before Golubic won the next two points to hold a fourth Match Point that she eventually converted.
Tomorrow at 12 noon, Samantha Crawford will attempt to win her maiden ITF title in her fifth final. Viktorija Golubic will be seeking her 8th ITF title and second in as many weeks. Following the singles final, Golubic will attempt to win her 6th ITF doubles title of the year and 14th of her career. She and Stephanie Vogt of Liechtenstein are the #1 seeds and will play singles semifinalist Rebecca Peterson and Julia Glushko of Israel tomorrow afternoon.
CopperWynd Resort & Club is actually in Fountain Hills. Pete Ziebron Images
Although the CopperWynd Pro Women's Challenge is listed as a Scottsdale $50K ITF event, the venue is actually in Fountain Hills, immediately east of Scottsdale. A portion of the Cliff Drysdale Tennis Management tennis courts at the CopperWynd Resort & Club are in Scottsdale. However the CopperWynd address is listed as Fountain Hills and the cover of the program of the tournament also lists Fountain Hills as the host city.
**Think of Mason, Ohio being the actual venue of the Western & Southern Open while the tournament is known as Cincinnati. The same "logic" applies in this case, I suppose........