Sunday was

an incredibly fitting championship day at the Challenger

of Peachtree, as both the singles and doubles, and the

Mike Patton Auto Mall One Point High School Tournament

all crowned their champions.

The singles

match was between second seeded Erika De Lone of Lincoln,

Mass. and Alina Jidkova from Russia. The first four games

of the first set all went to deuce, three of those four

resulting in a De Lone win. Jidkova would make some

outstanding shots and De Lone would remain patient and

catch up. After De Lone took a 4-2 lead in the first set,

Jidkova won the next three games in a row to take a lead.

The battle continued with each player playing outstanding

tennis and refusing to back down. De Lone won the first

set 7-6 (1).

The second

set went much the same way. Just when you thought that

momentum had sided with one player, the other would rise

up and defeat her opponent in the very next game. Jidkova

took control of the second set toward the end and won 7-6

(0). The players then asked for a 10-minute break due to

the heat and the one point tournament was played during

the break. The winner of the extremely fast-paced

tournament was Nicole Timmis of McIntosh. She won a free

pair of Adidas shoes and also got her high school team a

free entrance into the tournament.

The third

and final set between Jidkova and De Lone was intense.

Both girls played outstandingly and the momentum

continued to shift between them. Jidkova took it over

once and for all, calling out, "Come on1" after

particularly nice shots for points. Later, she would say

the only reason she did it was to keep herself awake in

the heat. Jidkova won the final set 6-4.

In the

tournament she defeated the first and second seed. She

was extremely deserving of the championship and she

prevented the fifth title in a row for De Lone. The

entire singles final took nearly three hours to play.

The doubles

final between the teams of Rika Hiraki and Nana Miyagi

and Annabel Ellwood and Bryanne Stewart did not last as

long. Both teams played well in the first set, but it was

power shots from the top seeded Hiraki/Miyagi that got

the crowd's cheers. Elwood and Stewart, the second seeded

doubles team, had their share of good plays early on, but

as the day wore on it seemed as though Hiraki/Miyagi knew

in advance where and how to hit the ball. Hiraki/Miyagi

won the first set 6-4. The second set was controlled by

Hiraki/Miyagi even more, as they won 6-1.

All in all,

it was a fantastic tennis tournament. The Challenger

raised the most money it ever has for the David Harris

Foundation, raising $3,500 from ticket sales alone.

The crowd

Sunday was the largest in the five-year history of the

tournament as well. There were no major injuries or

incidents during the week, despite the increasingly high

heat index throughout the week, and only two matches had

to be rescheduled due to weather.

Sunday was

an enjoyable day for fans, players and officials and many

of them already look forward to next year's tournament.

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