After her seventh straight win at the Hobart International, Madison Brengle moved on from a short meeting with reporters for a portrait shot with the tournament photographer. Standing in the late evening sunlight, the 24-year-old did her best to follow his instructions.
“You’ve done this before, right?” he asked rhetorically. She hadn’t. It was the first time the American had been asked to pose for a photo shoot.
Brengle can add it to the growing list of firsts picked up at the Hobart International: her first WTA semi-final appearance, and after beating Kurumi Nara in three sets, her first final.
“This is why we play,” Brengle said. “I played a lot of challengers last year and I did quite well. Getting my ranking up to the point were I can play WTA tournaments more than the challengers, and being able to win these matches, has been huge.”
> Replay: Madison Brengle v Kurumi Nara
It’s some rise for the world No.84, who has featured on the fringes of the WTA tour since 2007 before finally cracking the world’s top 100 in September of last year. And there will be a familiar face across the net in Saturday’s final: Heather Watson, a player the American knows well both on court and off from their time at the IMG Bollettieri Academy in Florida.
“We spent Christmas together this year, and I had the best time with her,” Brengle recalled with a huge smile. “We played board games with some other tennis players for five hours, it was so much fun.”
Watson and Brengle train together at the academy, so she knows what to expect from the world No.49. “She’s very, very, solid. She doesn’t give you anything, so I have to go out and do my best. I’m not going to get any free points, so I’ve got to go and win every point. I’ll try and be aggressive when I can, try not to make any unforced errors.”
It is the third time in the past four seasons that a qualifier has reached the final at the Domain Tennis Centre. Germany’s Mona Barthel was the first, winning the title in 2012 before Garbine Muguruza, now of Spain, matched her feat in 2014.
Like both Barthel and Muguruza before her, Brengle’s success underlines the importance of momentum in tennis, according to tournament director Mark Handley.
“The qualies is a tough battleground,” he explained. “Once they hit the main draw they’ve got three matches under their belt and they’re playing against seeded players who perhaps have had limited pre-season or a lower number of matches in the first two weeks of January.
“And then there is their nothing-to-lose attitude. They’re not highly ranked, they come into the tournament with lower expectations, and they’re fearless.”
Not to mention tough. A feisty counterpuncher on court, Brengle has burnt a hole in the palm of her racket hand during three-set victories over Barthel – in a match that ran past midnight – Karin Knapp and Nara.
“I got it the other day when I was playing Karin,” Brengle explained. “She was hitting the ball so hard and I as trying to absorb the pace, it actually tore my hand up. But what can you do?”
> Replay: Karin Knapp v Madison Brengle
To Brengle’s mind, all she can do is keep going – and keep the ball in court. Conditions could not have been much tougher on Centre Court for Friday’s semi-finals, with gale-force winds swirling around the stadium. Over the course of two sets, Watson and Alison Riske combined for 80 unforced errors in their semi-final. Over three sets in the second semi, Nara made 47, Brengle just 20. With high winds expected on Saturday, her survival instincts could be a factor once more.
“I’ve chased down just a couple of extra balls when I needed to,” she said jokingly – but that scampering has been the undoing of three top-50 opponents. “They’ve all been really good players, so each one I have to go at and expect them to be completely on. I just gave it my best – in the big moments I feel like I’ve played quite well.
“I’ve played a ton of matches this week, and last week in Brisbane I qualified and won a round. So it’s been a lot of matches. Once you get into the rhythm of winning matches it makes it a little bit easier to close them out.”
Whether she will get the chance to emulate champions Muguruza and Barthel by beating world No.49 Watson, in ominous form after four straight-sets wins en route to the final, remains to be seen. One thing is for certain: once they walk out on court, the Baltimore native will quickly put their friendship to one side.
“We practice together a lot, but a match is a match,” Brengle said. “You go out, you do your best and you leave it all out there on the court. I’ve got to move well, wrap my hand up, and do my best.”
It’s been a good enough plan so far.