Matawan Resident Advances to Finals at US Open National Playoffs

Robin Anderson may have lost her qualifying match in the New Haven Open, but her dream of competing in the US Open is just one match away.

Competing at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale University in New Haven, CT, Anderson lost her second round qualifying match 6-0, 7-5 to Anastasia Rodionova of Australia. However, she took the court just hours later for her semifinal match in the US Open National Playoffs and recorded a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 3 seed Macall Harkins of Palo Verdes, CA.

If Anderson wins the championship match on Sunday against Yasmin Schnack of Elk Grove, CA, she will receive a wild card into the US Open qualifying tournament, held from August 23-26 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY.

“After that loss (against Rodionova), I knew that I had another match to get prepared for,” said Anderson. “I just put it right out of my mind and came ready to play.”

Competing in front of a packed house of over 500 spectators against Harkins, Anderson won the first eight points of the match and raced out to a 5-0 lead in just under 20 minutes. Harkins managed to hold serve to get on the scoreboard, but an angled backhand winner from the Matawan native wrapped up the opening set.

“My serve was giving me a lot of free points out there and I think she was having difficulty reading it,” said Anderson.

In the second set, Harkins began to mix up the pace on her shots, alternating high and looping backhands with deep forehand drives, which threw off the rhythm of her opponent.

“She was playing better towards the end of the match and I think I started to revert back to being a little too defensive,” said Anderson.

The players remained on serve until 2-2 in the second set, when a pair of double faults from Harkins gifted Anderson a 3-2 lead. Two games later, a volley winner from Anderson sent her up 5-2, and an easy service hold ultimately wrapped up the match.

The finals against Schnack will be an all-UCLA affair, with Anderson attending there as a freshman in the fall and Schnack being a recent graduate.

“When I saw her this morning, I told her we had to make it an all-Bruins final,” said Schnack. “She’s a great player and I think we’ll have a very good match out there.”

The finals will take place at approximately 1:00pm on Sunday and will also be televised live on the Tennis Channel.