Czink, Tursunov net Waikoloa titles
Advertiser Staff
Top seed Melinda Czink and second seed Dmitry Tursunov captured singles championships yesterday at the Hilton Waikoloa Village U.S. Tennis Association Challengers.
The $50,000 women's and men's tournaments are part of the USTA Pro Circuit, the gateway to the U.S. Open and tour-level competition. The past three winners at Waikoloa's Kohala Tennis Garden — Andy Roddick, James Blake and Robby Ginepri — are now playing U.S. Davis Cup.
Melinda Czink
Dmitry Tursunov
Czink, a Hungarian ranked 77th in the world, is the winner of the inaugural Waikoloa women's title. She swept sixth-seeded Maria Emilia Salerni, 7-6 (8), 6-2, in the final. Salerni, from Italy, is ranked 134th.
Czink rallied from a 3-5 first-set deficit then controlled the match.
"I think she lost her confidence after that," Czink said. "I played better and put pressure on her in the second set."
Czink, 21, was the No. 2 junior in Hungary from 1998 to 2000. She now lives in Florida and has won 13 circuit titles.
She made her WTA Tour debut at last year's Australian Open, losing to Chanda Rubin in the first round. She reached the third round of the U.S. Open, taking out Lisa Raymond in the process.
Czink came to the Big Island this year after reaching the second round in Melbourne, where she lost to 11th-seeded Vera Zvonereva. She warmed to Waikoloa's "very nice environment" almost immediately.
"The first match was difficult, coming from Australia where there's different weather and a different surface," Czink said. "Then I got used to it and played well."
Tursunov, 21, is from Russia but has lived in California since he was 12. He swept qualifier Alejandro Falla, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4).
Falla, 20, has been on tour three years. He will play for Colombia's Davis Cup team next week. He needed to win seven matches at Waikoloa to reach his first Challenger final, but could not quite keep up with Tursunov at the end of each set yesterday.
The wind neutralized both players' powerful games yesterday. Tursunov, ranked 86th, believes the experience will help him: "I learned how to deal with myself not playing great and still being able to grind through."
Tursunov turned pro in 2000. He lost to Ivan Ljubicic in four sets in the first round of the Australian Open before getting to Waikoloa. Last year, he reached the quarterfinals at Waikoloa and went on to win two Challenger titles. In his Grand Slam debut, at the U.S. Open, he upset Gustavo Kuerten and John van Lottum.
Scott Humphries and Brian Vahaly beat Brandon Coupe and Travis Parrott in an all-American doubles final, 6-3, 7-6 (3).
