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.

  



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