Chinese Teenager Wins Maiden US$25,000 ITF Title

The 18-year-old from Beijing rallied back from behind in the third set and fought off a match point in the ninth game to beat the 301^st ranked opponent 6-2 1-6 7-5 in a nail-biting final that consumed two hours and 29 minutes.

It was the biggest win for Gao whose two previous ITF wins were in the US$10,000 level back at home in China last year on clay.

“I can’t believe I won the match because I almost lost in the final set. But I never gave up and in the end I won,” said Gao who is coached by Jamaican coach Sylvester Black.

In the first set Gao saved several break points and utilized her explosive forehands to take a 5-2 lead. Gao went on to exert pressure on the top seed by attacking at both wings. She finally took the first set 6-2 in 53 minutes. Thanks to two successive backhand errors from the Japanese.

In the first game of the second set Gao committed a double fault, followed by a forehand wide which saw her lose the service game for the first time on the day. Errors started creeping out of the Chinese racquet as she quickly fell 1-5 before losing the set 1-6  in just 27 minutes.

“I felt tired and she played well, She didn’t give me chances  while my body and legs felt tired,” said Gao who went for a toilet break before the start of the final set.

When play resumed, Gao was still overwhelmed with unforced errors and fell behind at 1-4 and 2-4. Akita was serving for the match at 5-3 but  the Chinese teenager did not give up, launching a series of raids to break for a love game to reduce the gap to 4-5.

 The Japanese had a championship point in the next game but the gutsy Gao fought bravely to stave it off with a smash. The momentum switched to the Chinese from then on as she broke the next game to surge up for the first time at 6-5 after Akita double faulted.

At 30-30 in the 12 th game, Akita hit two shots to the net to lose the match as the Chinese screamed in jubilant when the last point was over. She would head into the second leg (starting on Monday) US$3,919 richer from the winner’s prize money while Akita earned US$2,091 as runner-up.

“I didn’t want to lose the match. I just kept playing and playing and didn’t give up,” said the Chinese teenager who took up tennis because her father watched a match on TV and told her to play the sport from then on.

Asked how she was going to celebrate the win, she said: “Maybe I will party. Maybe my coach will allow me to. I don’t like go shopping at malls.”