WDSA Report: McElhinny And Krizek Surge to Philadelphia Open Crown by Rob Dinerman Dateline October 5th
--- In a solid display of court positioning and execution, the Tippett
sisters, Narelle Krizek and Tarsh McElhinny defeated Meredeth Quick and
Steph Hewitt 15-9 15-10 13-15 15-9 this afternoon in the final round of
the Philadelphia Open, held as always at the Philadelphia Country Club.
McElhinny and Krizek had lost to Quick and Hewitt in the final of the
2012 U. S. National Doubles before beating them this past winter in St.
Louis. But in that latter encounter, they had needed to climb out of a
two-games-to-love hole, whereas in today’s match they would have won in
straight games had they not let a 12-5 third-game lead get away before
regaining control in the close-out fourth.
Krizek
and McElhinny had swept into the final with a pair of 3-0 wins over
first the veteran Philadelphia duo of Dawn Gray and Amy Milanek and
then Dana Betts and Victoria Simmonds, while Quick and Hewitt, after
straight-gaming Gina Stoker and Kelsey Engman, had won their semifinal
3-1 over qualifiers Amy Gross and Alex Clark, quarterfinal winners
against Karen Jerome and Heidi Mather. In the early portion of the
final, McElhinny, who received the brunt of the Quick/Hewitt attack,
was able to score with shallow winners along the left wall and, more
importantly, to lob Hewitt out of her comfort zone, chasing her to the
back wall and depriving her of the room and time she needs to impose
her formidable front-court game. The sisters, both of whom were making
their opponents pay for every loose ball they offered up, seem to be at
their best when McElhinny is looking to shoot, which was not the case
in their close 15-13 first game Saturday against Betts/Simmonds, when
she was tight at the outset of that match before loosening up later on.
This time she was playing with confidence from the outset, and her
effectiveness had a salutary effect on Krizek as well, freeing her to
unleash her multi-dimensional arsenal of drives, nicks and lobs to
telling effect, especially with her backhand on balls down the middle
or when circling behind her sister to handle plays at the back wall
It is to
the credit of the Quick/Hewitt duo that they were able to conjure up
that 10-1 match-extending run and rescue the third game from such an
imposing 5-12 deficit, with Hewitt finally getting ---and taking
advantage of --- some chances to shoot, and Quick asserting herself
with a series of reverse-corner winners to get to 14-13, at which
juncture Krizek tried one of her patented low forehand kill drives from
deep in the court and tinned it. But early on in the fourth, the
eventual winners re-located their depth, which had abandoned them as
part of their slump in the prior game, and raced off to a 7-2 advantage
which was never seriously threatened thereafter. McElhinny was on fire
with her short game and hitting three-wall skid-boasts that ricocheted
too high off the right wall for Hewitt to volley, resulting in a
back-wall scramble that gave the Tippett sisters favorable positioning
and, frequently, opportunities to attack. It was a highly salutary way
for Krizek and McElhinny to start the 2014-15 WDSA season, giving them
some early momentum to attempt to build upon when they team up in the
tour’s second stop, the Cincinnati Open, on the November 7-9 weekend.
