“Last year, I lost to her in the semifinals on my birthday,” Rotaru said, “so this is definitely better.”
On Friday, Rotaru and Sienna Bhide defeated Kennedy and Chase London for the state doubles title. During that match, Rotaru made mental notes about Kennedy’s style of play that she was able to use to her advantage in the singles final.
“I knew I wanted to be more aggressive against her than I was last year,” Rotaru said. “She was running around her backhand in our doubles match, so I came out today trying to hit to her backhand as much as I could.”
Colgan junior Matthew Staton won his third consecutive Class 6 state championship in convincing fashion, beating Yorktown senior Ryan Elkhalifi, 6-0, 6-1.
Staton said he watched Elkhalifi play in the semifinals the day before, and what he saw convinced him the key to winning was his mental game.
“He’s a very crafty player, and he tries to throw you off hitting with a lot of spin,” Staton said. “My main goal was to stay 100 percent focused for the whole match.”
By contrast, Lightridge senior Sid Dabhade won his Class 4 title the hard way, dropping the first set before beating Grafton’s Rainer Christiansen in a third-set tiebreaker 0-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-4).
“I was frustrated after the first set, and so I wanted to use that negative energy to my advantage,” he said. “To me, the first game of the second set is the most important game. When I won that, and then I broke him to go up 2-0, I felt like the match was going back in my favor.”
Under VHSL rules, if players split the first two sets the match is determined by a tiebreaker going to the first player to win 10 points.
Dabhade, who will play next year at Virginia Tech, said he felt confident going into the tiebreaker.
“You’ve got to think that whoever won the second set has the momentum,” Dabhade said. “I just tried to keep that momentum going in my favor.”
In the Class 6 girls’ championship match, Madison senior Simone Bergeron defended the singles title she won last year. Bergeron, who will play at Elon, fell behind early in the first set before defeating Battlefield sophomore Sofia Raval, 6-4, 6-2.
“I knew coming in that she was very athletic, so I was ready to play some long points,” Bergeron said. “I definitely started getting tired out there, but I kept telling myself, ‘This is your last one, so you’ve got to focus.’ It’s a nice way to finish my high school career.”