Alicia Salas has done just about everything there is to do involving tennis in the state of Colorado.
Just one box, though, remains unchecked: a Denver City Open title.
The former Cherry Creek High School standout will try for the fourth time today to etch her name into City Open lore against 1996 champion Rhona Kaczmarczyk at the 89th annual event at the Denver Tennis Club.
Salas made what seemed like a tough match on paper against Colorado Springs’ Tabatha Knop look easy Saturday, ousting the Class 5A state high school champion in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.
“I came into this match really nervous, because I really respect Tabatha as a player and I have seen how well she has done this year,” said Salas, a four-time high school state champion from 1997 to 2000. “It’s just so difficult playing the younger players.”
It wasn’t so much what Salas was doing, it was what Knop could not. The University of Northern Colorado-bound Knop began her first service game of the match with a double fault, and would follow with five more in the 20-minute first set.
“We both started off the match pretty tight,” Salas said. “She was obviously a little nervous on her serve in particular, and I was still trying to get used to the speed of the court. But in the end, her double fault gave me the confidence I needed to calm down.”
Said Knop, who lost her second service game at love, double faulting four consecutive times: “That was really frustrating. It came near the end, but that was still just too late. I kind of knew what to expect coming in, and I knew it would take all I had.”
Even when the rest of her game started to come around in the latter stages of the match, Knop’s inconsistent serve seemed to jump up and bite her at critical times. Knop, who held serve just once in seven tries, finished with 11 double faults.
“You never know what’s going to happen in the finals,” said Salas, who also won last year’s Colorado State Open, “Everybody usually comes out swinging.”
Kaczmarczyk, 40, was on the court longer against Tabatha’s sister Tiffany, but eventually prevailed 6-4, 6-0, in a match that was a lot closer than the score indicated.
Kaczmarczyk, who won the City Open nine years ago, hit just about every shot in her repertoire against her 18-year-old opponent. But it was at the net where Kaczmarczyk’s creativity was at its finest, with picture perfect drop-shots and great use of angles.
On the men’s side, two semifinal matches were reduced to one. Mark Boren, who gained entry into the USTA National Open boy’s tournament late Friday night, pulled out and gave University of Colorado senior Marko Bundalo a free pass to today’s final.
The lone semifinal went to Colorado Springs’ Bart Scott. The former University of New Mexico standout beat his third seeded player in four matches of the tournament, 6-4, 6-4 over No. 2 Willie Dann of Denver.
“I told myself that I had to make this guy beat me with his volleys,”said the 1999 graduate of Mitchell High School. “I just tried to get a lot of returns in and see if he could beat me. To be honest, he didn’t have his best day today.”
Dann, a semifinalist a year ago, served-and-volleyed his way back into the semifinals, but a total of 30 unforced errors, many on the backhand side, did him in.
The women will start championship play at 9:30 a.m. today and the men’s final will follow.
Jon E. Yunt can be reached at 303-820-5446 or at jyunt@denverpost.com.