Kevin Mitchell Wins B Division

On Sunday when the rain came down and forced the men’s B final of the city tournament to be delayed until 6 p.m. that evening Kevin Mitchell looked to have the first set in hand against Donny Paisley, leading 5-2. But Paisley, 12, in the match won the first three games after play resumed to get back. Mitchell adjusted from there though, and won the next eight games to beat Paisley 7-5, 6-0 and win the B division. Mitchell made one adjustment after Paisley return at the end of the first set that proved to be the difference.“What I decided to do was on his serves play him short, make him run,” Mitchell said. “Then once he started running I could either lob it over his head or make a passing shot.”Paisley got back into the match after falling in the first set, but couldn’t get anything going in the second.“I came back three games and then it went downhill,” Paisley said. “It was like a sugar rush, you get actually high and big and then you make a actually big downfall.”Paisley was able to get into the match by trying to make Mitchell cover the entire court.“I pushed him from side to side, front and back trying to make him run a lot so he’d get really tired and eventually he’d get too tired to not actually do a whole lot,” Paisley said. Mitchell had to change his strategy because Paisley didn’t let him hit many winners.“I had to play him short because he was like a wall,” Mitchell said. “Every time I’d hit something back to him he’d lob it in the air or put it in the middle of the court and I had to generate pace which would make me hit the ball out.”Mitchell earned the title and, like anyone who watched Paisley play, had nothing but good things to say about him.“He’s great,” Mitchell said. “This is the type of child that’s coming out of Freeport playing tennis, I think that’s promising.”Main wins women’s titleSindy Main was a point away from having to go to a third set against Danielle Flack in the women’s final of the city tournament on Sunday. She had won the first set 6-3 but trailed 6-4 in the second set tiebreaker. She held serve to make it 6-5 then got a mini break to tie it at six. Flack then double faulted to let Main serve for the match, which she won on the next point.“I think it was just a matter of both of us making errors more than either one of us winning,” Main said of the tiebreak. The match, which was the only city tournament match originally scheduled for 6 p.m. and wasn’t affected by the morning rain, ended with Main winning, 6-3, 7-6 (6). Both players were feeling the effects of the heat by the end.“I was getting actually tired in the second set, but she was hitting it really well,” Flack said. The heat was making both players’ hands sweat, making it hard to hold the racquet. “I was just trying to keep the ball in play,” Main said. “Our racquets slide in our hands so we both were working hard to keep the ball in.”Rob Drucker won the Consolation A final and Jordan Wilson won the Consolation B bracket.