Nathan Mollat / Daily Journal Burlingame’s Brooke Tsu hits a return during her 6-3, 6-0 win over San Mateo’s Sammy Huang to capture the PAL tournament singles championship.

The top two singles players met in the championship, with Burlingame’s Brooke Tsu overwhelming San Mateo’s Sammy Huang, 6-3, 6-0. The doubles championship was even less eventful. Top-seeded and defending champions Zoe Dubrow and Melissa Won from Carlmont won by default when Menlo-Atherton’s Taylor Wentz injured her ankle in Wednesday’s semifinal match.

The Carlmont pair found out late Thursday they would not be playing.

“(We found out) right before we were going to leave (campus),” Won said.

Regardless of the outcome, all finalists qualified for the Central Coast Section tournament. Huang, however, decided to skip CCS. Burlingame’s Polina Davidenko, who was the third-place winner, will fill Huang’s spot at CCS.

In the singles championship, Huang started quickly, breaking Tsu in the first game of the match. But Tsu quickly regrouped, winning five straight games to take a 5-2 advantage. Huang staved off the inevitable by winning the eighth game, but Tsu closed out the set on her serve.

In the second set, Tsu, a sophomore, seemed to get stronger and Huang more frustrated dealing with Tsu’s thumping forehand. Huang’s serving also let her down. She missed her first serve more often than not and floated a number of second serves, on which Tsu pounced.

“It was really tough,” Huang said. “She’s really fast.”

Huang tried to get Tsu off her game by consistently hitting slices back to Tsu or using moon balls to allow herself to get in position for a return. Tsu had to force herself to wait out Huang, not an easy thing to do considering Huang was content to just hit back-and-forth with Tsu.

“I was trying to change it up as much as I could, but I was getting overpowered,” Huang said.

“She’s really patient,” Tsu said of Huang.

When Tsu did decide to attack, however, the point was usually over. Despite the lopsided score, the match wasn’t an easy one for Tsu. A sore wrist prevented her from attacking as much as she wanted because she couldn’t hit a backhand without pain.

“I didn’t feel confident attacking,” Tsu said. “I tried to give her as few free points as possible.”

Tsu became the odds-on favorite to win the title once Menlo-Atherton’s Marietta Tuionetoa decided not to compete in the individual championships. Tsu’s confidence went up with Tuionetoa’s absence, but she was a bit bummed when the PAL’s best player missed the tournament.

“It made me sad,” Tsu said. “It would have been nice to take her on again.”

In the varsity third-place doubles match, the Aragon pair of Katherine Loh and Talia Young had little trouble beating Burlingame’s Monica Patel and Mary Grace Chambers, 6-0, 6-2.

“It’s a good wrapup for their career,” said Aragon co-coach Ed Schuler.

Loh is a four-year varsity player and played No. 1 singles for three years. Young is a three-year varsity player and was part of the No. 1 doubles team during the regular season.

The third-place varsity singles match was also won by default. Burlingame’s Davidenko was awarded the victory when Menlo-Atherton’s Paige Keating was laid up by a 102-degree temperature, according to Burlingame coach and tournament director Bill Smith.

On the frosh-soph side, Burlingame’s No. 1 doubles team of Catherine Lowdon and Grace Hu beat Aragon’s Samantha Wong and Christina Hsu in the best match of the day. Lowdon and Hu were blitzed in the first set, 6-0, but came back to win the second set 6-2. The match was decided by a super-tiebreak with the Burlingame duo out-lasting Aragon 10-7.

In the third-place, frosh-soph doubles match, Menlo-Atherton’s Siena Roat-Shumway and Kiko Aebi beat Carlmont’s Mindy Yasuda and Tyler Norman in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.