THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507230191
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Top-seed Jessica Lehnhoff showed the marks of a champion Saturday in winning the USTA Girls 16s National Clay Court Championships at Virginia Beach Tennis and Country Club.
Still giddy after collecting her first 16s title this year, Lehnhoff, 15, wasn't talking about her pinpoint-accurate forehand or her fancy touch at the net that helped her down second-seeded Julie Ditty, 7-5, 6-1.
She was pointing to her knees and elbows, still banged up from a week's worth of straight-set wins.
``See all my bruises?'' said the Cooper City, Fla., native, still dirty from a second-set dive on the gray clay. ``I just decided I was going to go for it today. When she hit those lobs against me the last time (we played), I stayed back, but this time, I decided it was too hot. I was going to take the balls in the air, do the Agassi thing, pow!''
Lehnhoff lost to Ditty the last time they played, not converting three match points before falling in a third-set tiebreaker. ``We know each other's games well,'' said Lehnhoff, who roomed and played doubles with Ditty, a native of Ashland, Ky., in Europe last spring. ``We both pick on each other's backhands.''
The two traded breaks to open the match, and Ditty went up 3-1 on a Lehnhoff error. But Lehnhoff, the nation's top-ranked 14-year-old in 1994, held serve in the next game and broke back, thanks to her sensational court coverage. After Ditty hit an apparent down-the-line winner off a Lehnhoff overhead, Lehnhoff swatted an even better shot crosscourt that ticked the net and slipped across for game point.
``Being 3-1 down, that's no big deal,'' Lehnhoff said. ``Even when I was up 5-1 in the second set, I said, `Finish.' She's known for coming back.''
In the first set, Lehnhoff led, 5-3, but the lefthanded Ditty held serve at love and broke back for 5-5, mixing up the pace with slices and lobs.
But Lehnhoff came right back with a service break for 6-5, as Ditty sailed a slew of forehands long, and then held her own serve to close out the set.
``I was tired,'' Ditty admitted. ``I just wanted to keep coming in, attack her backhand and end the point.''
Down 1-4 in the second set with Lehnhoff serving, Ditty squandered four break points in a six-deuce game. Lehnhoff got her first advantage on the fifth deuce, but landed face down in the clay after diving for a drop shot. Lehnhoff won the game on a Ditty error and closed out the match with a winner down the line and a loud shriek of ``Yes!''
``It wasn't until the middle of the point that I said, `Oh my God. I can win this,' '' said Lehnhoff.
In the third-place consolation match, Stephanie Hazlett of Grandview, Ind., rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the final set to beat Marissa Irvin of Santa Monica, Calif., 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.
In the doubles final, third-seeded Shannon Duffy of Plano, Texas, and Keiko Tokuda of Clifton, N.J., defeated fourth-seeded Lehnhoff and Kathy Sell of Moorestown, N.J., 7-5, 6-1. by CNB