Thomas Mayronne and Lindsey Hodge both emerged as winners in the USTA National Open 14s at the Westgate Tennis Center, but both survived grueling matches to do so.
Mayronne, the top seed from Monroe, La., rebounded to beat unseeded Zachary Kennedy of Stockbridge, Ga., 3-6, 6-0, 7-5. Second-seeded Hodge of Roswell, Ga., beat close friend and top seed Allison Miller of Norcross, Ga., 6-3, 1-6, 6-4.
Both matches took more than two hours to complete. Hodge won her singles title after winning a doubles championship.
“Right now, I’m pretty tired, but I’m sure on the ride home, I’ll be feeling great,” Mayronne said.
Mayronne lost the first set, but dominated over the next two, winning nine straight games before Kennedy made a run. Mayronne was up 6-5 in the third set, but fought off two game points from Kennedy to force a deuce. He eventually wore Kennedy down and won the match.
“It was tough,” Mayronne said. “My leg felt weak at that deuce point, but I made him play and he gave me the easy return that helped me win the match.”
Kennedy’s run through the tournament included a semifinal victory over No. 2 seed Riley Reist. He also beat the No. 5 and No. 9 seeds. With the top seed, Mayronne had the target on his back the entire tournament, but didn’t flinch.
“You’ve just got to take it match by match, point by point and once you get to the finals, finish it,” Mayronne said. “It was a great tournament.”
Hodge started off her match well, cruising to a 6-3 first-set win, but Miller dominated the second set and led 4-3 in the third set before Hodge won the last three games to take the title.
“I started off well being aggressive,” Hodge said. “Things were going my way and I was playing pretty good. In the second set Allie forced me into some errors and my game went down a little bit. After the second set, I was able to regroup and come back out and was able to figure out a way to win.”
Hodge and Miller are good friends and have played in several tournaments against each other.
“With friendships it’s great, but when you get on the court you play as hard as you can and leave it on the court,” Hodge said. “We’ve played a lot of really tough matches. She won the first few and I’ve won the last couple. It’s been close.”
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