Junior Girls’ Tennis : Phebus Has to Rally to Win Her Third Title in 3 Months

Top-seeded Keri Phebus overcame a strong challenge from Kim Shasby in the Seventeen Magazine Tennis Tournament of Champions Saturday to win the 16-and-under division title, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.

But winning has become a familiar story for the Newport Beach 15-year old. The victory in Mission Viejo gave Phebus her third tournament title of the year. She also won the Easter Bowl in Miami in March and the Long Beach Juniors in April.

To win Saturday, however, Phebus had to survive a scare from Shasby.

“I was giving her a lot of short balls and she hits very hard, but once I got momentum, I knew I had the match,” Phebus said.

Shasby’s presence in the final was a surprise.

She was not among the seeded entrants for the 96 junior draw. Just because her hometown of North Liberty, Iowa, isn’t a hotbed of tennis doesn’t mean she hasn’t been noticed.

Shasby, well-known in the Midwest, where she’s the Missouri Valley’s No. 1-ranked player in 16s, stepped out of the shadows at a national tournament.

“I had the best tournament of my life,” said Shasby, who beat three seeded players. “Or close to it.

“It was the first finals of a national-caliber tournament I’ve been in. It was exciting for me just to be there (in the finals),” she said.

One could almost expect that kind of statement from a kid who is so genuinely amicable she frequently congratulates opponents’ shots and says, “Sorry” when she returns faulted serves. But when Phebus, ranked fourth in the Southern California Tennis Assn., had a troublesome first set in which she blew a two-game advantage, Shasby was not too polite to capitalize.

Shasby broke Phebus’ serve twice and Phebus double-faulted twice, the second time at match point.

“I was in the tank,” Phebus said of her first-set performance. “It’s good that I was (struggling) because I overcame and did enough to win the match.

“I knew if I could stay in the rallies and keep it deep she’d make an error sooner or later.”

Shasby, ranked 32nd nationally, admitted she let down after winning the first set.

“I was satisfied with one set,” she said. “I relaxed. I gave her an inch, and she ran away with it and didn’t let me back in the match after that.”

Phebus steadily built momentum by breaking Shasby’s serve twice and holding service to take a 3-0 lead in the second set.

“I started pumping myself up going into the second set,” Phebus said. “I said, ‘You’re not going to lose this,’ and I knew I had the ability to win.

“I don’t think I played well at all,” Phebus said, “I just won the key points.”

In the two other finals, Audra Keller of Memphis, Tenn., defeated Angelica Gavaldon of Coronado, 6 -3, 6-2, for the 18-and-under title. In the 14s, Nicole London of Rolling Hills Estates defeated Chanda Rubin of Lafayette, La., 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.