Battle between Reddy and Hamby for women’s singles title is preview of strong tennis future

QUINCY — The future of Quincy women’s tennis is here, and their names are Anika Reddy and Alex Hamby.

The two teenagers squared off in the women’s open division title match of the Quincy Tennis Association City Championships at the Greeman Tennis Center in Reservoir Park on Saturday. Reddy grinded out a 7-6, 6-3 victory over a scrappy Hamby to capture her first city crown.

“It was tough,” Reddy said. “I feel like I just powered through.”

Hamby said Reddy’s speed and defensive skills made every point a battle.

“She’s very scrappy,” Hamby said. “She got to everything.”

Both players showed their scrappiness — and some nerves — right out of the gate, as neither player held serve over the first six games of the match. Reddy delivered a crosscourt forehand winner to hold serve for the first time and go up 4-3 in the set, the first of four straight holds, two for each player.

Hamby broke Reddy’s serve to take a 6-5 lead, but Reddy broke right back to force a set tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, neither player won a point on serve until Reddy pulled ahead 3-2. With Hamby serving, Reddy delivered two consecutive powerful forehands to extend that lead to 5-2. 

Hamby said the velocity and accuracy of Reddy’s forehand didn’t allow her to control as many rallies as she would have liked.

“She’s very consistent with the corner shots,” Hamby said. “I need to be ready for it, but then again, she could easily switch direction, so it’s kind of hard. She can go anywhere with it.”

Hamby won the next two points, but true to the theme of the first set, Reddy responded with two mini-breaks to take the first set. Reddy credited her level of play during the tiebreaker as a turning point in the match.

“My forehands really helped me,” Reddy said. “I just went into the second set and just kept rolling with it.”

Reddy jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the second set, but after Hamby broke Reddy’s serve then won the next point to tie the set at 3, Hamby felt like she was in a favorable position to force a third set.

“I got a little momentum going there,” Hamby said.

Reddy snatched that momentum away by holding her next serve then breaking Hamby, at which point Hamby felt like she had expended every ounce of fuel in the tank. Reddy won the next game without losing a point.

“I didn’t really have any more energy left to give,” Hamby said.

Reddy will begin her junior year at Quincy High School this fall, while Hamby has one more year at Quincy Junior High before joining Reddy at QHS. Hamby, who has won city championships at the U12 and U14 levels, competed in the open tournament for the first time at 13 years old. Simply reaching the championship match at such a young age gives her belief her tennis career will take her a long way.

“It makes me feel pretty confident that I’m doing pretty well against older kids,” Hamby said. “I want to go to college. I want to do things.”

One of those things will be joining Reddy on the QHS tennis team for one season, which Reddy said cannot come soon enough.

“She’s amazing,” Reddy said. “It’s definitely going to be a good season. I feel like we can get another Western Big 6 title.”