You might not expect a 10-year-old to draw from her experiences, but Port Washington’s Francesca Karman did just that in her opening round match at the West Side Tennis Championships Monday afternoon.
Competing in her opening round match in the 10-and-under division at the West Side Tennis Championships in Forest Hills, Karman started off slowly, but regrouped midway through the second set to cap off a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 comeback win against Kyra Bergmann of Forest Hills.
“I play about 30 tournaments a year, so I’m used to these types of matches,” Karman said.
After holding serve at the beginning of the first set, Karman, a fourth grader at , began to make unforced errors early in the rallies while her opponent was content to camp out behind the baseline.
“She was playing well and I was going for too many angles,” Karman said. “I was making a lot of mistakes in that first set.”
Down 1-2 in the second set, Karman began to guide her groundstrokes towards the middle of the court and play more tactically sound tennis. The plan worked as Bergmann began to dump groundstrokes into the net. Reeling off the last three games of the match, a strong serve from Karman sent the pair into a deciding set.
The final set was all one-way traffic for Karman. Gaining confidence in her one-handed backhand as the final set progressed, Karman began to attack short balls and follow them into the net for winning volleys.
Karman raced out to a 3-1 lead in the final set and gained an additional break of serve with a forehand winner to go up 5-1. On her first match point, a backhand long from Bergmann wrapped up the contest.
The match was also a family affair for Karman: Her father, Frank, serves as her full-time coach. The pair practice in Roslyn anywhere from four to six days a week, for two to three hours at a time.
“We definitely work on conditioning a lot,” Francesca Karman said. “He helps me a lot with point play and keeping longer rallies from the baseline as well.”
Karman is scheduled to play her second round match Tuesday at noon against No. 1 seed Jennifer Yu of Forest Hills. To follow her progress throughout the tournament, visit the drawsheet for the event.
