NORCROSS, GA—Sachia Vickery and Victoria Duval have been playing tennis together since they were seven or eight-years-old, according to Vickery. But today’s contest between the two, now both 18, would have a bit more meaning: The winner would earn a main-draw berth into next month's Australian Open. Neither woman has ever played in “The Happy Slam”; Duval has never even played tennis in Australia.
Duval, you may remember, upset 11th-seeded Sam Stosur in the first round of last year’s U.S. Open. Unlike the Aussie, Vickery is no major champion, but in today’s final she played like she belongs in a major tournament. Her serve was on, she was aggressive, and she moved extremely well.
“I think she started noticing that I was going wide a lot so I just started trying to mix up my serves,” Vickery said. “And my T [serve] was working well today so I was happy with that. My serve really pulled me out of situations, too.”
Vickery cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 victory, booking her ticket to Melbourne. But after the match, Vickery didn’t think the lopsided score meant anything.
“There were nerves through the whole match, from the first point to the last point,” Vickery said. “I started missing a lot into the net, so I just tried to play my way into points. She was making more errors in the first set and in the second set; I just thought I should stay with her a little bit more.
“There wasn’t one point where I was completely calm.”
Steve Johnson has also struggled with staying calm. The two-time NCAA champion played every Grand Slam tournament in 2013, and lost the first round each time. Besides the U.S. Open, each defeat came in five sets.
“I could kind of rely on what I’d done wrong in the other five setters,” Johnson said about today's best-of-five-set final. “Maybe I was too fired up, just to prove to the world I’m not tired or something. I just came out today and told myself I’ve played five sets before, and I’ve gone five hours.”
As it turned out, five sets was on the menu in today's match for the main draw. Johnson’s opponent, Tennys Sandgren, had never played five sets before. After his match on Saturday, he said he really wanted to play five sets to see how he measures up. He'd get his wish.
After the pair split the first two sets, Sandgren jumped all over Johnson in the third, playing beautiful tennis. He was serving big and not making many errors, and mixed in some solid net play. Aided by some errant play from Johnson, Sandgren blanked Johnson to take the third set.
The players were on serve in the fourth when Johnson took a spill chasing a ball to his left. He had to call the trainer, got his ankle taped up, and kept playing. Of course he did.
“To win 72 matches in a row—everything he’s played through, hurt, sick—he’s a competitor,” said Peter Smith, Johnson’s college coach at the University of Southern California. Johnson’s collegiate career ended in 2012 on a 72-match win streak.
Johnson played on after he hurt his ankle, and kept the set on serve until he was down, 5-6. He had to hold serve to stay in the match. Sandgren had a match point. Johnson winded up and crushed an ace.
“In the fourth set, down match point, I just ran the best play I could,” Johnson said. “Luckily it worked.”
Johnson held serve to force a tiebreaker. It was Sandgren who blinked; down a set point, he double faulted, sending the match into a fifth set.
At the beginning of the fifth, Johnson earned an early break to go up 3-1. He wouldn’t lose any more games. Johnson took the match, 4-6, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1, bypassing his backup option of playing in the qualifying rounds at the Australian Open and cementing his name in the main draw.
With his birthday and Christmas on back-to-back days this week, Johnson earned himself an early present. He’ll go back to California to relax and enjoy the victory with his family for a couple days. And then, Down Under, for maybe more five-setters. This time, he’ll be ready.