THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607210192
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 56 lines
Ten minutes after winning her semifinal match at the USTA Girls 16-and-under National Clay Court Championships Saturday morning, Melissa Middleton wanted to practice.
Her father, Dan, taking a breather in the shade at the Virginia Beach Tennis & Country Club, seemed puzzled.
``Practice what?'' he asked his 14-year-old daughter.
Giving her dad that isn't-it-obvious look, Middleton told him, ``Tennis,'' and headed off in search of lunch and a hitting partner.
Such is life at the top on the junior tennis circuit. Middleton, the tournament's No. 1 seed, dispatched fourth-seeded Jenny Hopkins 6-2, 6-3 in little more than an hour. Middleton, from Houston, will face second-seeded Lauren Kalvaria at 9 a.m. today to decide the title. Kalvaria, from Indialantic, Fla., advanced with a 6-1, 6-3 win over ninth-seed Tamara Sutton in Saturday's other semifinal.
Kalvaria, 15, has already lost two tournament finals to Middleton this year, once in the Easter Bowl and a few weeks ago in Italy.
``She's a real fighter,'' Kalvaria said of Middleton. ``She never ever gives up. With her, similar to my match today, you can't let up at all.''
Middleton, who has not lost more than five games in any of her six matches, fell in the quarterfinals here last summer, but credits her improvement to better conditioning and a powerful forehand.
``My backhand is consistent, but forehand is my weapon,'' she says.
Middleton broke Hopkins to open the first game with the kind of accuracy she would demonstrate the entire match, keeping her opponent swatting at balls that fell inches from the baseline or at her feet. Serving at 1-3, Hopkins threw in a drop shot, but Middleton ran it down and secured her second break on a Hopkins unforced error. Middleton then served out the set at love.
``I played OK; I didn't play well, but neither did she,'' said Middleton, who had beaten Hopkins, from Leawood, Kan., once before. ``I just tried to concentrate more.''
Middleton took a 5-1 lead in the second set before Hopkins won the next two games by tidying up her own play and forcing Middleton into some sloppy errors. But Hopkins' consistency wavered as she went down love-40. Fighting off two match points, she sprayed a backhand long on the third to set up another Middleton/Kalvaria final.
Kalvaria calls 1996 her dream year.
``Last year I was ranked in the 30s in the country and this year I'm seeded two,'' she said. ``That's a big jump for me.''
The lefthanded Sutton, who generates pace by hitting with two hands from both sides, couldn't match Kalvaria for precision and pace. They have played five times, and Kalvaria's taken the last two.
``She can move really well; you can't really tell where the ball's going,'' Kalvaria said. ``You've just got to keep your feet moving to the ball all the time and concentrate all the time.''
Serving with a 3-1 lead in the second set and facing break point, Sutton, from Miami, netted an easy overhead that put the match back on serve. Kalvaria then won the next four games to close out the match. by CNB