Unseeded Freshman Foils Pastorini Bid : High school tennis: Taft senior loses City final to Segura in three sets.

Brahna Pastorini, Taft High’s big, powerful, swaggering tennis player, came to defend her City Section singles championship Friday.

Confident and undefeated, Pastorini was ready to cap her high school career with a victory at The Racquet Centre over unseeded freshman Kendra Segura of Dorsey.

But little did Pastorini know, she would face two opponents: Segura and herself.

The composed and determined 14-year-old, who wears braces and uses a lob serve, didn’t appear much of a challenge for Pastorini, the dominating champion who could hit blinding serves and forehands.

Pastorini’s most formidable opponent was herself--and she succumbed, 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-3.

Pastorini had not lost a match in two seasons and had not yielded a set this year. During her reign, she simply overpowered opponents.

But a quick and steady Segura (16-0), who upset top-seeded Julia Feldman of Taft on Wednesday, handled all the brawn that Brahna threw her way. The slender, 5-foot-4 ninth-grader looked like a ball machine, returning everything.

“The key for me was to get the ball back deep to her and recover quickly, and stay in there and keep her hitting another shot,” said Segura, who turned 14 in August.

And she hung in there with the champion until the senior began to crack. By the second set, Segura, who remained emotionless, realized she had Pastorini right where she wanted her.

“I knew she was getting tired and frustrated,” said Segura, who led, 3-2, then broke Pastorini’s next two services to force a third set. “I think she expected me to give up in the second set.”

Appearing dejected and nursing a sore ankle afterward, Pastorini (19-1) declined to be interviewed.

She broke Segura’s first service of the match after Segura double-faulted three times and showed her only signs of shakiness. Pastorini then held her first serve.

Pastorini fell behind, 4-3, with Segura serving, but then appeared to take control of the match. Trailing, 40-15, in the game, Pastorini forced deuce with a volley, took the advantage with a backhand pass at the net and then attacked Segura’s backhand to win the game and tie the set, 4-4.

Then she pulled ahead, 5-4, with a backhand shot. One of Pastorini’s serves was hit so hard, it glanced off Segura’s racket and sailed over the fence and into a nearby condominium complex.

But by the second set, Segura’s consistency unsettled Pastorini.

“I’m so stupid,” Pastorini bellowed after blowing one point. And when a crucial backhand lipped over the net, she said, “Thank you, God. I love you.”

Pastorini led, 2-0, in the third set, but after the freshman tied it, 2-2, breaking the senior’s second serve, Pastorini appeared to quit. She won only one game and 11 points thereafter.