Goldstein, Pelletier win at Waikoloa
Advertiser Staff
Paul Goldstein, who won the inaugural Hilton Waikoloa USTA Challenger in 2000, captured the title again yesterday when he beat fellow American Cecil Mamiit, 6-2, 6-2, in the men's final at the Big Island resort.
In the women's final, top-seeded Marie-Eve Pelletier of Canada outlasted seventh-seeded Hana Sromova of Czechoslovakia, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, in a 2-hour, 37-minute test of wills.
The men's final matched two unseeded players with strong backcourt games, but Goldstein proved to be stronger and steadier from the start as surged to a 3-1 lead before quickly closing out the first set.
Goldstein was up 4-0 in the second set before Mamiit won a game. They stayed on serve with Goldstein serving out the set.
"It might seem like I had an easy match but with Cecil I never relax," Goldstein said. "The last time I played him, I won the first set 6-1, was up a break in the second and he beat me 6-4 in the third. Today, I don't think I ever relaxed out there until 5-2, 40-love. I wish I could have relaxed earlier but he makes me feel so much pressure with his feistiness and competitiveness."
The big difference between the two baseliners was Goldstein's serve.
"I served phenomenally well and we both have such similar styles of play and such similar mentalities that when one of us can do something markedly better than the other person, it's going to make a huge difference because we're so similar," Goldstein said. "And since I hit my serve so much better today than he did, that was a huge, huge difference."
The women's final saw both players call for the trainer and take medical timeouts.
"It was a really tough match today," Pelletier said. "It was so hot. It really came down to being patient and waiting for my ball to attack. I'm just very happy I was able to fight it through because I was down in both the first and third sets, so I had to really dig down deep inside to find the energy and strength to get through."
In the men's doubles final, American Eric Taino and Andre Sa defeated Thailand twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatnana, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (2), in a 2-hour, 18-minute thriller.
American Kaysie Smashey and Natalie Grandin captured the women's doubles title by defeating Lauren Breadmore and Ayami Takase, 6-3, 6-4.
