Crowning achievement: Caty McNally wins Dow Tennis Classic

Caty McNally sank to her knees and put her face in her hands, then sprawled on her back on the court in celebration while the cheering crowd rose to its feet in a standing ovation.

McNally’s Dow Tennis Classic singles championship on Sunday afternoon, as a 17-year-old wild card, capped one of the best performances by any player in the 31-year history of the $100,000 Pro Circuit event.

McNally defeated 24-year-old Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-4 on Stadium Court at the Greater Midland Tennis Center to put an exclamation point on a week in which she didn’t lose a set and upset four seeded players, including No. 4 seed Pegula.

“To win this tournament means so much to me,” McNally enthused. “Just getting a wild card into the event and beating Nicole Gibbs in the first round, I would have been happy just exiting the tournament after that match.

“But I definitely wanted more, and I’m super happy that I was able to win (the title).”

For her part, Pegula credited McNally for playing fearlessly.

“She didn’t really start making any errors until about the end of the second set there when I started coming back,” Pegula said. “She’s playing with a lot of confidence and kind of no fear, (and it’s) tough to play against someone like that who’s young and doesn’t really feel the pressure.

“I thought I was a little slow today, too, but credit to her — she did a really good job of staying on top of it and playing a really good match,” Pegula added.

When told of Pegula’s assessment that she played without fear, McNally agreed.

“Yeah, definitely, this whole week I just played with a lot of confidence from the first match,” McNally said. “I knew that was I was going to have to do that if I wanted to beat these top players, so I’m happy I was able to do that.

McNally, of Cincinnati, Ohio, was ranked 411th in the world coming into the match and Pegula, of Buffalo, N.Y., was ranked 104th. They were also doubles partners this week. McNally pocketed $15,239 for the title and Pegula earned $8,147 as the runner-up.

McNally wasted no time in establishing the upper hand. She broke Pegula at 15 in the first game of the match and broke her again at 15 in the fifth game.

Meanwhile, McNally saved the only two break points that Pegula had in the first set and allowed a total of eight points in four service games to win the set 6-2.

The second set began with an unlikely 22-point game that Pegula ultimately won to hold serve.

But McNally broke Pegula on her next two service games while not allowing a break point in her own first three service games to go up 5-1 and be on the verge of the title.

Pegula, though, wasn’t about to go quietly.

She held at 30, then broke McNally at 15 and held at 30 again, and suddenly it was 5-4.

McNally then earned a double match point on her serve, but Pegula saved both points. Undaunted, McNally captured the next two points, and the championship was hers.

“I’m not going to lie; I got a little tight (when Pegula started to come back),” McNally said. “But I just tried to go back to my routine and play my game, and I think I did, especially on the last point.”

With her second career title in the bag, the possibilities for McNally seem to be wide open.

“It definitely gives me a lot of confidence (to win this tournament),” she said. “I have some of the biggest wins of my career here. It kind of shows that my game is at that (championship) level, and it gives me confidence for the rest of the tournaments.”

McNally expressed gratitude to the tournament and the spectators during the trophy presentation.

“Thank you to the tournament for giving me a wild card. I would not be here without that,” McNally noted. ” … I will definitely be back here next year.

“… Thank you to all of you who came out and supported me every single day. It means so much to come out on the court and have the crowd supporting me,” McNally added.

For Pegula, it was still a pretty successful week as the tournament runner-up.

“I thought I had a really good week,” she said. “I got through a couple of tough matches. I also cracked the top 100 (once the rankings are updated), which was a big deal, so overall, it was a very successful week.”

With the tournament wrapped up, McNally said she planed to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday night with a family in town that she knew well, and then to return home to Cincinnati on Monday to celebrate with her family.

When asked which team she would be pulling for in the Rams-Patriots Super Bowl, McNally had a thoughtful answer.

“I don’t even like pro football,” McNally said with a laugh. “But I guess I’ll go with the Patriots because they’re really professional about how they do their business.”