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Christina Lyutova never blinked in the face of elimination. The 13-year-old had to save two match points to stay alive in the Girls 16 singles final at the USTA Billie Jean National Championships.

As she prepared to serve to extend the second set, Lyutova let her survival instincts take over.

“I don’t think I had any thoughts in my mind. It was just keep fighting,” Lyutova said. “It is not over until it is over. It is not over until it says game, set, match.”

The chair umpire didn’t utter those words until nearly an hour later once the top-seeded Lyutova had rallied to beat No. 7 Anita Tu 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 to claim the gold ball at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.

Lyutova is a national champion of all surfaces this summer. She won the USTA Girls 16 National Clay Court title last month, when she also rallied from a set down in the final.

Although she was aware of the gold ball that comes with the hard court win, Lyutova was surprised to learn she earned a wildcard into the main draw of the US Open Junior Championships. The blue chip rising eighth grader found out from King during the awards ceremony.

“I really didn’t know. It wasn’t on the website this year, so I really didn’t expect that,” Lyutova said. “But I am very, very happy and it is an amazing opportunity. When Billie said that I get a wildcard to the Junior U.S. Open, I was like, ‘what?’ because I didn’t know.”

Tu, a blue chip rising freshman from Melbourne, Florida, used an aggressive game plan to capture the first set and take a 5-4 lead in the second. She earned two match points, but couldn’t close it out. Lyutova hit a winner to cap a lengthy rally to save the first match point and then Tu hit a ball long on the second attempt.

Lyutova won the game after hitting an angled winner following a great scramble to retrieve a short ball. She immediately broke Tu to take a 6-5 lead and then saved three break points to force a third set.

“I was trying to do the same thing, but I think that maybe on big points I should have been more aggressive,” Tu said. “I think I might have taken a step back and should have been more aggressive, which got me to that place in the match. I think if I was more aggressive things may have turned out differently.”

After the break between sets, Tu had a chance to regain some control immediately in a marathon opening game. But Lyutova fought back again, rallying from down triple-game point to take a 1-0 lead. She saved two break points in the second game and then broke again to take a 3-0 lead and seize the momentum.

“I think that first game opened the entire set,” Lyutova said. “It got me a lot of confidence in the next one so it kind of helped the fight.”

Tu wishes she could have performed better down the stretch to make the third set more competitive.

“I came out strong those first three points, but after that it just kind of went downhill,” Tu said. “I was setting up points and had a good mentality coming in, but a lot of the errors I made were physical. Physically, I was not feeling that great and I think that is why I hit a lot more errors that set.”

Tu’s silver ball was her second this year and third of her career. She was was runner-up at Easter Bowl this year in 14s singles and at Eddie Herr in 12s singles two years ago

“I am still looking for that gold,” she said.

In doubles, top-seeded Leena Friedman (Brooklyn, New York) and Vessa Turley (Scottsdale, Arizona) captured the title with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 8 Riley Trinkle (Charlestown, Indiana) and Kaede Usui (Franklin, Wisconsin) in the final.

Friedman and Turley didn’t drop a set in the tournament. The duo rolled through the final few rounds, winning 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals and 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals. It prolonged a torrid doubles run for Turley, who also won the Girls 16 Winter National and Eddie Herr titles without dropping a set.

As she began playing more freely in the third set, Lyutova tried to remain focused to not let Tu back into the match. She set up match point with a winner down the line and captured the title when Tu sailed a backhand wide.

“It is incredible. It is a great opportunity to be here and right now I can’t even express my feelings,” Lyutova said. “It is very amazing my feelings.”

Lyutova was grateful for all the matches she was able to play and the experience she gained during the week in San Diego. She didn’t drop more than four games in a set until the semifinal, when she beat No. 9 Julieta Pareja (Carlsbad, California) 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1.

“I would love to congratulate all of the players. They were very good and they were older so they were strong. They did an amazing job here,” Lyutova said. “It was such an honor to play this event and so inspiring to meet Billie.”

After the adversity she endured in the final, Lyutova believes she learned a valuable lesson that will benefit her in the future.

“Even if your game is not going well, you just need to stay mentally tough always and keep fighting to find a way,” she said. “There can be new ways to do something. If things aren’t going right, you just do something else that works.”

Other Results

Singles Playoff 3-4: Pareja def. No. 11 Anna Frey (Farmington, Utah) 6-3, 6-3

Singles Consolation: No. 33 Avery Nguyen (El Dorado Hills, California) def. Sydney Jara (South Hamilton, Massachusetts) 7-5, 2-2 ret (ill.)

Doubles Playoff 3-4: Jara-Georgia Kulevich (Bradenton, Florida) def. Aria Nina Abalos (Bloomfield, New Jersey) and Phoebe Devine (Ridgewood, New Jersey) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3

Next Up - Boys 18s

Let’s run it back tomorrow … same venues as today, but we move up to the 18s. Colette Lewis covers Kalamazoo for TRN for more years than we can count. Check back tomorrow morning for that article - as TRN gives you a courtside seat to Championship Week.

• Aug 14 - Championship Week Rewind
• Aug 15 - Ascenzo Stays Aggressive to Claim Boys 12 Title
• Aug 15 - Wang Adds Second Gold Ball With 12s Singles Title
• Aug 16 - Konduri Sweeps 14 Hard Court Titles After Sweeping Clays
• Aug 16 - Middleton Sweeps Girls 14s Hardcourt Titles
• Aug 17 - Woestendick's Determination Leads to Kalamazoo 16s Title
• Aug 17 - Lyutova Fights Back to Win Another Girls 16s Title
• Aug 18 - Tien Claims Second Straight Kalamazoo 18s Title
• Aug 18 - Big Year Continues for Ngounoue with 18s Hard Courts Title

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at [email protected].