Rampre, Courtney earn Clay Court titles

Petra Rampre and Drew Courtney took decidedly different routes to the singles titles of the McDonald's Mid-Atlantic Open Clay Court Tennis Championships yesterday at Salisbury Country Club.

The top-seeded Rampre, who won her third straight crown, required a little over two hours to outlast third-seeded Tatsiana Uvarova 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 6-1 in the women's final.

Courtney, meanwhile, needed less than an hour to capture his first McDonald's title. The No. 7 seed from Clifton zipped past an injured David McNamara, the second seed, 6-1, 6-2.

For Courtney, the victory culminated quite a week, since he conquered fourth-seeded Salifu Mohammed in the quarterfinals, top-seeded Sanam Singh in the semifinals and finally McNamara.

Having knocked off his University of Virginia teammate, Singh, in the semis, Courtney wanted to keep the crown in U.Va. hands, and the rising sophomore had little difficulty accomplishing it.

"Of course I wanted to get the win for U.Va.," said Courtney, who played mostly No. 6 singles for the Cavaliers' highly-ranked team this spring. "We're great friends and good teammates. We've been staying here the whole week. It's been fun."

Courtney received a default from Singh in the semifinals when arm problems forced U.Va.'s No. 2 player to retire after losing the opening set. Courtney also got a break in the final when McNamara strained an abdominal muscle in the first set.

"I did it at 2-1 in the first set," said McNamara, runner-up for the third consecutive year. "I was actually worried about it all week because it happened to me last year, too. I just wasn't able to serve very well after it happened.

"But even if I had been completely healthy, it would have been a tough match. Drew's a good player."

With McNamara, 33, the men's coach at Middle Tennessee State, unable to unload on his usually strong first serve, Courtney was able to blast winners down the sidelines and into the corners. McNamara got more and more frustrated, watching the ball sail past him.

"He wasn't hitting his serve as big as he did early on," said Courtney. "Sometimes, it's tougher to play an opponent when he's injured. I just tried to pretend it was never happening. Go out there and play my game and see what happens."

McNamara received a second-place check for $1,500 while Courtney was able to only accept expenses since he's still an amateur.

In the women's final, Rampre, 29, had to work much harder for her $3,000 first-place check. The native of Slovenia was down 4-2 in the opening set before battling back and came from 3-1 down in the second to take the lead.

"You have to stay positive and patient," said Rampre. "Just play in the moment, point by point. Sometimes, somebody like her, with a good baseline game, can get ahead. But I knew I was in good fitness this year, since I played 22 hours of tennis these last five days.

"I don't feel extremely sore, and for sure, I think that helped me in the third set."

Uvarova, a former No. 1 player for Virginia Commonwealth University, saved three match points at 5-4 in the second set and took command of the tiebreaker by winning the first five points. But she had nothing left for the third set, dropping the first four games.

Uvarova managed to erase three more match points in the final game, however, before Rampre, who is ranked No. 378 on the women's pro circuit, smashed a forehand service return winner down the line off a second serve to end it.