Baker Rallies to Defeat Fink

On the brink of elimination after dropping the first set without winning a game and squandering a three-game lead in the second set, Palm Desert senior Robyn Baker looked toward the darkening sky and yelled: “This is so ugly. C’mon, pick it up.”

Baker then fought her way into and through a tiebreaker to a 0-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 victory over Calabasas sophomore Amanda Fink in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section girls’ tennis singles tournament Thursday at SeaCliff Country Club in Huntington Beach.

“I have a lot of fight in me,” Baker said. “I didn’t want to lose, and a lot of times, I play my best when I’m down. I love the fight, I love the competition.”

The 2 1/2-hour match between Baker and Fink was the last of several marathons to be completed on a long, exhausting day as players competed through two rounds to advance to today’s 10:30 a.m. semifinals.

Thanks to her victory over the third-seeded Fink, unseeded Baker will be there to face Villa Park junior Lindsey Nelson, the No. 2 seed who lost in the final last season. Nelson advanced Thursday with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Marlborough’s Yelena Olshanskaya in the morning and a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Lauren Jones of Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley in the quarterfinals.

Top-seeded Elizabeth Exon, a Michigan-bound senior who had advanced to the semifinals for the third consecutive season, picked up a 6-1, 6-0, fourth-round victory over Palm Desert’s Hillary Collins and a 6-2, 6-0 quarterfinal victory over Mykala Hedberg of Oxnard. The sophomore had the upset of the day with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Fullerton Troy freshman Cosmina Ciobanu, the U.S. Tennis Assn. girls’ 16 Southern California sectional champion.

Exon, last year’s runner-up, will face Calabasas junior Celia Durkin, who won the section doubles title last season with Erin Everly and advanced Thursday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Claremont’s Sandra Rocha and a 6-4, 6-1 decision over Dana Point Dana Hills’ Kady Pooler.

The Corona del Mar doubles team of Taylynn Snyder and Brittany Holland, who made the finals last season, advanced to the semifinals with straight-set victories.