Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 1, 1994 TAG: 9408010061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Instead, Nagatomi's sharp, angled ground strokes - and an oversight that allowed her to serve four straight times in the first-set tiebreaker - gave the 19-year-old Nagatomi a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 singles championship victory in the $10,000 USTA Women's Circuit of Roanoke tennis tournament at Hunting Hills Country Club.
Nagatomi, whom her coach said is ranked 30th nationally in Japan, is the second Japanese woman to win the Roanoke event in three years; Ai Sugiyama won in '92. It's Nagatomi's second summer on the USTA's satellite tour, but her first singles victory.
``I'm very happy,'' she said.
The $10,000 event pays the winner $1,600 and the runner-up $1,000, but as amateurs, Nagatomi and Brandi keep only expense money. All returned amateur player prize money at tournament's end is redistributed by the USTA as a per diem to amateur players at that week's tournament.
Nagatomi's arm gave her no problems, she said. Neither did tournament seeds. Nagatomi spat them out all week, beating No. 6 Petra Gaspar, No. 3 Karin Miller and No. 1 Claudine Toleafoa before chasing second-seeded Brandi.
Brandi turned and fought once, turning a 3-1 first-set deficit into a 5-3 lead by breaking Nagatomi's serve twice. Nagatomi winners made it 5-4 before Brandi quickly lost her serve and her lead in the set. Nagatomi had one clear winner in the 10th game; Brandi seemed out of it from the first serve.
``It was my mistakes,'' she said. ``I think I made a few too many today.''
One of hers followed one by chair umpire Jim Rose of Newport News. At 3-1 Nagatomi in the tiebreaker, Nagatomi's backhand was called wide by a linesman, who was overruled by Rose. Instead of Brandi serving, however, Nagatomi was allowed two more serves, giving her four in a row.
Nobody of influence noticed - not Rose (who had the serve alternating in correct order on his scorecard), not Nagatomi (she said), and not Brandi, who had argued over Rose's line call.
``[The line call] kind of made me mad. All the points are so crucial ... I was pretty disgusted,'' said Brandi, who was asked if she realized Nagatomi had served four straight times.
She stared at the questioner, put her hand to her head and said: ``I was just... I don't know. It should've been the ref [realizing it]. But that's my fault, too.''
Nagatomi won one point on her two extra serves, going up 5-2, and won the tiebreaker when Brandi hit a running forehand long and then couldn't catch a Nagatomi cross-court backhand.
Nagatomi said she didn't sense trouble when Brandi went up 5-3 in the first set.
``I had confidence,'' she said through an interpreter. ``I just had to concentrate.''
Brandi broke Nagatomi again to tie the second set 2-2, then lost three straight games as Nagatomi moved her around with hard ground strokes. Brandi, a 17-year-old from Bradenton, Fla., gave Nagatomi three match points in the ninth game but saved all three by smashing two Nagatomi lobs and watching a Nagatomi backhand land wide.
Two deuces later, Brandi hit long to give Nagatomi her fourth match point. Brandi's netted backhand ended the match and ended a six-tournament, 44 match stretch that included a singles victory at a $10,000 event in Indianapolis, Ind.
Brandi attends high school in her hometown of Bradenton and is coached by her father, Joe, who was Pete Sampras' coach when the latter won the 1990 U.S. Open. She could have used a few of Sampras' strokes on Sunday.
``I think I had opportunities I could've taken advantage of,'' Brandi said. ``It just didn't go my way today.''
by CNB