Tatsiana Uvarova has an injured shoulder. She hasn't practiced in four months. She was playing longtime friend and former Virginia Commonwealth University teammate and coach Olga Borisova.
But none of that stopped the No. 1 seed from winning the women's singles final in the SMARTBOX State Indoor Tennis Championships last night at the Country Club of Virginia.
In a roller-coaster match, Uvarova outlasted second-seeded Borisova 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-1) in just over two hours to claim the top prize of $1,000.
"I don't have to play for college anymore, so I just give lessons once a week," said Uvarova, who will graduate from VCU with a degree in international studies next week.
"It was a good match. She's a good player. We always practice with each other, so we know how to play each other."
Uvarova likes to stay mostly on the baseline and pound her ground strokes, while Borisova hits a variety of slices and spins while throwing in a lot of drop shots.
Fortunately for Uvarova, the match came down to a tiebreaker, which was good for her and not so good for Borisova.
"I like to play tiebreaks," said Uvarova, who was the No. 1 singles player for the Rams this past season, when her coach was Borisova.
"But during the [third] set, I was not confident that I'm going to win. I really didn't know how it's going to end. It just happened."
Uvarova rolled through the opening set in 25 minutes, thanks in part to four double faults by Borisova that cost her two service games. It quickly turned around when Borisova's drop shots frustrated Uvarova.
"I think I got a little tired and she took advantage of it," said Uvarova, 23, who like Borisova is from Minsk, Belarus. "She's really smart and she knows how to change the game."
The third set was back and forth, with Uvarova taking leads of 4-3 and 6-5, while Borisova led at 5-4.
"It was hard for me to focus in the first set," said the 25-year-old Borisova, a 2006 graduate of VCU in business marketing. "I was rushing for some reason. Then I figure out that I'm losing by myself. I am just giving it away. I should just try to keep more balls in and see what happens. After that, I feel better and get more confidence.
"But I am bad with tiebreaks, especially in final sets. It's not my strength, definitely. If I continue to play, I should work on that."
Borisova returned in the doubles final with Viktoriya Konstantinova to beat the No. 2 duo of Kirsten Elim and Julie Ogborne 6-0, 6-0. In the men's doubles final, the top-seeded team of Carl Clark and Romain Ambert defeated the No. 2 pair of Scott Steinour and Anthony Krawietz 6-1, 6-1.
The men's singles final between Ambert, the top seed, and Clark, the No. 2 seed, is tonight at 6.
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