Perry continues comeback climb

Shenay Perry's 2009 tennis season started slowly. But she's on the verge of a strong finish.

The 25-year-old from Coral Gables, Fla., is in today's semifinals of the Lexus of Las Vegas Open, two wins from ending the year with back-to-back titles. She won last week's USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Albuquerque, N.M.

"I'm serving really well right now," Perry said after defeating fellow American Lilia Osterloh 7-6 (4), 6-3 Friday in the quarterfinals at Red Rock Country Club. "When I get my first serve in like I've been doing lately, it makes all the difference."

Perry, the No. 2 seed, will face third-seeded Regina Kulikova at 10 a.m. today in the semifinals after Kulikova defeated Henderson's Asia Muhammad 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.

In the other semifinal, wild-card entrant Mirjana Lucic continued her storybook journey in Las Vegas with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Lindsay Lee-Waters. Lucic will face Aniko Kapros, who eliminated sixth-seeded Madison Brengle, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

Perry, ranked No. 40 in the world in 2006, is still trying to come back from major knee surgery in 2007. She's currently ranked 121st on the WTA Tour and said she can't rush things while trying to climb in the rankings.

"It's one match at a time," said Perry, who has made $95,110 this year. "The most important thing I learned from being out is you appreciate it more, because you know at any second it can be taken away from you forever."

Time is on Perry's side. She's in her 10th year as a pro, and that experience has served her well, especially when things don't go her way.

She found herself in such a predicament in the first set Friday. She was up a break at 4-3 but trailing 0-15 on her serve when she hit a forehand down the line that was called in. But the umpire overruled the call, and the point was replayed and won by Osterloh, putting Perry down 0-30. Osterloh went on to break serve and even the match at four games apiece.

Yet Perry managed to get the frustration over the call out of her system and eventually force a tiebreak, which she won, 7-4.

"It's definitely frustrating when a call is missed like that, but you have to move on," she said. "I think my experience definitely helped me in that situation. Yeah, I was angry with the call because it ultimately cost me the game, but I managed to hold it together."

It was her first win in three tries over Osterloh this year. Perry said she switched tactics for this match, preferring not to slug it out with the 31-year-old Californian.

"I tried to slow down the pace and use a lot of lobs and drops, try to keep her off-balance, and it seemed to work out well for me," Perry said.

Muhammad failed to reach the semifinals when her right ankle, which she sprained last week, gave her problems throughout her match. Kulikova, hampered by tightness in her back, managed to outlast Muhammad, using her hard, flat ground strokes to stay in front.

"It was a tough match," said Muhammad, who will play in the doubles semifinals today with Coco Vandeweghe against Kapros and Agustina Lepore. "There were a lot of long points, but I thought I hung in there mentally pretty good. I just couldn't really get down and hit the ball like I wanted to because my ankle is killing me."

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913.