Brown Wins Singles Championship at ITA Midwest Regional

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Varsity Tennis Center)

Event: ITA Midwest Regional Championships

Result: No Team Scoring

Next U-M Event: Fri-Sun., Oct. 28-30 — at Puerto Rico Invitational (San Juan, Puerto Rico), TBA

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Jaedan Brown of the University of Michigan women’s tennis team rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Ohio State’s Sydni Ratliff to capture the singles title at the ITA Midwest Regional Championships, held Oct. 20-25 at the Varsity Tennis Center.

Brown kept Michigan’s singles streak alive at the event, as U-M has won every singles championship since 2013.

After dropping the first set, 6-4, Brown got the break she needed at 4-2 in the second set. She jumped out to a 0-40 lead on Ratliff’s serve, eventually cashing in on the deuce point for the break. Brown rattled off wins in the next two games to take the set.

Brown raced out to a 4-0 lead in the third set and led 0-30 in Ratliff’s service game at 4-0. The Buckeye regroup, rallying for the game to ignite a three-game run of her own. A few games later, Brown forced a Ratliff error with a lob shot for a 5-3 lead and the opportunity to serve for the match.

Ratliff broke Brown to get back on serve, eventually taking a 6-5 lead on Brown. The Wolverine was able to force the tiebreaker by winning the final four points in the last game.

It was all Brown to start the breaker as she raced out to a 4-0 lead. Ratliff closed to 4-3 but could not get any closer, with Brown making good on her second match point for a 7-4 win.

Brown won three consecutive three-set matches to reach the final match, the last coming at the hands of teammate Lily Jones in the semifinals. Brown fell behind 3-1 to Jones in the first set before reeling off five straight games for the win. Jones leveled the match with a 6-1 second-set win and went up a break early in the third at 2-1. Brown responded by winning three consecutive games for a 4-2 advantage. Jones was able to get one of the breaks back, but Brown held on a deuce point during her next service game for a 5-3 lead. That was all she needed as she advanced to the singles championship match.

Brown fought off two match points in her quarterfinal match against Wisconsin’s Taylor Cataldi, eventually getting a 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6) win. Brown went up 4-2 in the third-set tiebreaker, only to see Cataldi rip off four straight points for a pair of match points at 6-4. Brown returned the favor by winning…