Veselinovic Wins Academy Showdown to Reach Canada Final

Second seed Ana Veselinovic defeated fellow Monte-Carlo Tennis Academy star Anna Fitzpatrick in three sets to reach the final of the $10,000 ITF tournament in Calgary.

The 19-year-old left-hander overcame the No. 3 seeded Fitzpatrick 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals and will now face local favourite and No. 4 seed Sharon Fichman for the title.

“It's good to be in the final after playing all these matches really well and to be only one step away from finishing the job,” said Ana. “I put together a good game plan and I sent a positive message to me also for next week [in Vancouver], and to the others.”

Veselinovic led 3-1 in the opening set but seemed to be suffering from a slight shoulder niggle, and the 18-year-old from Sheffield hit back and broke twice to take it 7-5.

However, the turning point came at the start of the second set as Veselinovic upped her game at the right time and Fitzpatrick struggled to maintain her momentum. The Serbian mixed up her serve and returned well throughout the remainder of the match to move through to her second final of the month having won the title in Prokuplje.

“It was a good come back, I was moving my feet well and returning well,” said Veselinovic. “My serve was good and I was mixing it up a lot.”

For Fitzpatrick, it was a frustrating way to lose the semifinal. “I’m so disappointed because I did nothing to change the trend of the match,” said the Briton. “I was playing so badly, just not making hardly any shots at all. Today was an example of when you just have to go kamikaze to change something, because there was no chance of changing the match the way I was playing from the baseline, and the way I was serving.”

Her thoughts were echoed by coach Antony Hampson, who added: “Anna never really found her range. She didn’t really do anything to come out of the slump, there were no serve-volley tactics, no return-and-in.”

There was better news for Anna later in the day as the two teamed up to reach the final of the doubles competition, defeating Melanie Gloria and Kady Pooler 6-4, 6-2. They will now face top seed Argentines Soledad Esperon and Agustina Lepore as Veselinovic hopes to claim the Calgary double.