THUNDER BAY – Before this weekend, Emily Kelsey had never played at the Thunder Bay Tennis Centre.
Not even once.
She made her presence known in a hurry, capturing the VW City Memorial Tennis Tournament, in honour of Dr. Jerry Stitt, roaring back from one set down to edge Anna Turner 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 to take the ladies singles title.
After dropping the opening set, Kelsey broke Turner’s serve eight straight times over the final two sets to claim the championship, the first event the 30-year-old Roseview, Calif. native has played in since arriving in the city from Toronto, where she’s lived for the past decade.
It wasn’t the start she was looking for, but definitely the finish.
“I was making a lot of errors so I knew I had to change something. I had to take a bit off the ball and just get a rhythm going again. As soon as I got that rhythm going I was able to put a bit more on and steal a bunch of games.”
Kelsey stormed through the second set, out-duelling Turner, particularly successful in rally situations, throughout the frame.
She said she decided to attack Turner’s second serve, putting her opponent on the defensive, despite being on serve.
“I was able to get her on the run right away and I think get on the offence, so that definitely helped me,” Kelsey said.
After tying it up in such a decisive manner, Kesley said she couldn’t let her foot off the gas in the third. It was more of the same in the early going of the final set.
She broke Turner twice to open the third and took a commanding 3-0 lead, and fittingly broke her to capture the title, the winning point coming on yet another lengthy rally between the two tennis players.
“The third set comes down to sudden death, so you’ve got to just put as much energy as you can out there. We’ve been battling the elements out there – smoke and heat – and I just wanted to give it the best I could give it,” Kelsey said.
Gianni Mascarin defeated Imran Malik 6-2, 7-5 in the men's open final, while Hudson Van Dyke took a straight-set win, 6-1, 7-6, over Kaz Kitchener in the men's 3.5 final. In the women's 3.5 final it was Janine Black of Amanda Frederick, winning 6-0 and 6-3. In the men's open doubles, Robert Beckford and Brad Kirkham defeated Malik and Rohan Rakshit (6-0, 6-3) and in the women's open doubles, it was Leanne Ryder and Kristine Thompson downing Kelsey and Dolly Niemi (6-4, 6-2).
