Gastaldo Advances to Finals at West Side Tennis Championships

Despite not playing what she calls her best tennis, it was still more than enough for Syosset native on Monday afternoon in the first round of the Girls 16-and-under West Side Tennis Championships in Forest Hills.

Gastaldo raced out to early leads in both sets, but had to overcome nerves in the latter stages of the match before advancing with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Anne Oliver of NYC.

“I started to get nervous towards the end,” said Gastaldo, who is a freshman currently home-schooled through the University of Miami Global Academy. “My ground-strokes and serve were both pretty solid, so I think that’s what got through in the end."

Gastaldo easily won the first two games of the match before her opponent began to settle into the match. Despite Oliver cutting down on her unforced errors, it was still Gastaldo who dictated the long baseline rallies.

“Even when I got into stretches of making mistakes, it felt like I was the one in control of the rallies and what was happening out there,” Gastaldo said.

A punishing backhand off a short serve from Oliver wrapped up the opening set for Gastaldo. The second set started out almost identically to the first one, with a series of errors from the baseline by Oliver giving Gastaldo a 2-0 lead. 

Up 4-2 in the second set, it looked as though Gastaldo would coast through, but she began to tighten up on her ground-strokes and swing less freely. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Oliver broke serve while Gastaldo tried to close out the match at 5-3.

However, the Syosset native saved her best tennis for the end of the match, hitting two winners in a row to set up match point. A backhand steered wide from Oliver wrapped up the match and Gastaldo advanced into the second round.

Despite being happy with progressing in the tournament, Gastaldo said she hopes to avoid some of the mistakes that she made in this opening round contest.

“I need to work on my confidence out there, not getting down on myself and trying to stay positive no matter what happens,” Gastaldo said.

Gastaldo said her mental toughness and on-court attitude is something she’s been working on in practice, and has noticed a marked improvement in that area over the last two years.

“To be honest, I think a lot of it is just maturing as a person,” Gastaldo said. “As you get older, you learn more about yourself and you start to become more aware of how to handle certain situations.”

Update: Gastaldo defeated Bianco Posa in the quarterfinals and Sam Yukelis in the semifinals of the tournament, only to fall in the finals against Jessica Livianu, 6-1, 6-1. Click here for the full bracket.