Naperville Central’s Chen through to semifinals

When Tiffany Chen was pushed, she pushed back.

The Naperville Central sophomore on Friday advanced to Saturday’s girls state tennis semifinals with a 6-3, 6-0 victory against Nazareth’s Lexie Petrovic.

Petrovic seemed poised to turn the momentum her way in the second game of the second set. But after the girls went to deuce five times, the second-seeded Chen won the game. There was no stopping her the rest of the way.

“That was a really important game because she had a lot of ads and I had a lot of ads,” Chen said. “But after I won it I had a big mental advantage over Lexie after that point. I turned up my energy and I just tried to fight for every shot.”

Chen’s ability to reach nearly every shot, no matter how well hit, worked to her advantage.

“Lexie’s a great player, so I knew I had to make sure to keep the ball deep,” Chen said. “I moved my feet a lot and I just fought for every point.”

Chen will meet New Trier’s Carol Finke in the semifinals at Buffalo Grove High School.

“I know all the people playing and they’re all fantastic players, so I’m just going to come out ready to play,” Chen said.

Hinsdale Central’s Isabella Lorenzini will play the other singles semifinal against Alex Chatt of Lyons Twp.

Chen’s teammates on the doubles side, Cass Goldner and Cindy Liu, didn’t fare as well. They lost their quarterfinal match 6-2, 6-2 to 5-8 seeds Taylor Arends and Tess Trinka of Oak Park-River Forest.

Naperville Central sits fifth in the team standings with 27 points. New Trier is first with 37, followed by Lake Forest with 35, Hinsdale Central’s 33 and Stevenson’s 32.

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