RACQUETBALL IN SANTA ANA : Adams Has Magic in Final

Just after losing the second game of the Ektelon Winter professional racquetball final Sunday, Caryn McKinney went to a secret weapon. She reached into her pocket, pretended to pull something out and sprinkled it on the head of her opponent, Lynn Adams.

But even the imaginary “magic dust,” as McKinney later described it, could not stop Adams at Santa Ana Racquetball World during the third of eight stops on the 1989-90 women’s professional tour.

Adams, of Costa Mesa, beat McKinney, of Atlanta, 11-6, 11-6, 11-10, in a meeting of the two players who entered the tournament sharing the current Women’s Professional Racquetball Assn.’s No. 1 ranking.

The match was their first meeting since McKinney defeated Adams in June to win the 1988-89 national championship. That victory made McKinney the tour’s player of the year last season, an honor Adams had won the previous four times. Adams, the tour’s all-time leader in victories and money earnings, said she felt “some people had written me off” before the start of the current season.

Adams won at the last stop in Alaska in November after losing in the quarterfinals in San Francisco in September.

“I want to win so bad,” said Adams, who won $3,000. “I was inspired. My goal is to get back the No. 1 ranking for the end of the year.”

Adams, 32, took control of the match early. Leading, 4-3, in the opening game, she scored five consecutive points on a variety of shots to pull away.

“I put a whole lot of pressure on her,” said Adams, who won her 46th tournament title. “I was hitting the ball real solid and mixing my shots up. I was forcing her to make a lot of weak returns.”

McKinney, who won the tour’s first stop before losing in the quarterfinals at the second, fought off three game points before losing the first game. Adams also moved through the second game of the fast-paced match easily, taking a 10-3 lead before holding off a late rally.

“I was overswinging, trying too hard,” said McKinney, who also struggled with her first serve. “She served very well today. When I hit some good shots, she was there to get them.”

The third game finally provided some drama. McKinney, 32, scored five consecutive points for a 6-3 lead and later reached game point at 10-8. Adams, however, survived a game point and scored three consecutive points to win.

“She did a good job of slowing me down and taking me out of my rhythm,” said Adams. “She sucked the wind out of me. I went kind of flatfooted.”