Friendly match goes to Lee-Waters

On Friday night, Lindsay Lee-Waters and Carly Gullickson hit the Downtown Mall together. They took in some music at “Fridays After Five,” then had some dinner.

On Saturday morning at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, the good friends proceeded to beat the living heck out of each other in easily the best match to date of the Boyd Tinsley USTA Women’s $50,000 Pro Tennis Championships.

When the dust settled, Lee-Waters overcame four match points in a final set tiebreaker to squeak out a 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (12-10) upset victory over third-seeded Gullickson and advance to today’s tournament final against fourth-seeded Ekaterina Bychkova. It will be the first final appearance for Lee-Waters since she gave birth to her second child over three years ago.

“It’s always tough playing a friend,” said the 31-year-old Lee-Waters. “It went back and forth and could have gone either way. It was just who was willing to be aggressive and make [shots] at the key times.”

The match featured unbelievable all-around play from both players, who exchanged wicked winners throughout.

Lee-Waters, who entered the tournament ranked 286th, continued with the aggressive style that led to a victory over No. 1 seed Alexa Glatch on Friday. Every time she seemed on the brink of letting the match slip away, she was able to dig down deep and pull off an amazing shot.

“I really wanted to win — really bad,” Lee-Waters said. “I was giving it everything I had. She’s a really good player. I just had to stay in there and stay positive and just keep going.”

Gullickson, who has actually done some babysitting for Lee-Waters’ children at past USTA Pro Circuit stops, didn’t lose the match as much as she had it ripped away from her. The 22-year-old’s best chance to win came on her third of four match-point opportunities in the tiebreak when she pinned Lee-Waters into a corner, only to see her friend rifle a forehand cross-court winner that snuck just inside the sideline.

“I think that was right on the line,” said Gullickson, ranked 150th in the world.

Gullickson, who won the tournament in 2005, had shown some heart of her own. After failing to serve out the match at 6-5 and losing four of the first five points in the tiebreaker, she looked dead in the water. However, the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. resident fought back valiantly, winning five of the next six points to take a 6-5 lead after a backhand error by Lee-Waters. Gullickson just never could win the big point.

Lee-Waters went up 11-10 on a clutch backhand passing shot after Gullickson had charged the net, then won the match when a Gullickson forehand sailed long.

Gullickson was noticeably upset afterward.

“Normally, I don’t cry after matches,” Gullickson said, “[but] I was just so frustrated. But all credit to Lindsay because she played really, really well and came up with some really good shots on my match points.”

In the first set, Gullickson appeared to be in the driver’s seat when she broke Lee-Waters to go up 4-3, then solidified the break with a strong hold — one that included two aces — for a 5-3 advantage.

But Lee-Waters wouldn’t go away.

The Atlanta resident blasted two aces of her own to hold at 5-4, then made an incredible get on a drop shot en route to breaking right back.

Lee-Waters held serve to take a 6-5 lead, then broke Gullickson again, this time at love, to close out the set.

The second set was all Gullickson. Using a strong serve and blistering groundstrokes, she easily won, 6-2.

Lee-Waters, who has an 8-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son, now has a 3-2 career record against her buddy. You can tell she doesn’t exactly look forward to the encounters.

“Always at the beginning of the matches, it’s a little bit tough,” she said. “But once you get the adrenaline going, you kind of forget about that stuff.

“We’re able to be fine off the court after.”

Lee-Waters is looking forward to today’s final. Despite the physical and mental energy she expended, she says she’ll be ready for Bychkova — a player she has never faced.

“I’m pretty motivated right now,” she said, “so I don’t think I’ll have a problem with that. Either way, win or lose, I know I’m going to give it all I have.”

It’s worked well so far.