Tanya Timko didn't even pause when the obvious question was asked.

"No. I will play with the girls again [next year]," said Timko, a junior from Chartiers-Houston High School is believed to be the first girl in WPIAL history to win three different tennis titles.

Timko and her sister, Karli, teamed to win WPIAL and PIAA Class AA girls' doubles titles in 2007. Last year, they decided to play against the boys and almost matched their feat. The Timkos became the first girls' doubles team to win a WPIAL boys' title, then dropped a match in the first round of the PIAA tournament to the eventual runner-up team.

This year, Tanya was on her own. Karli graduated in June and is now at Marshall University. Without her sister, Tanya made a name for herself by winning the WPIAL Class AA girls' singles title.

"It's more power to me," Timko said. "I did it myself. I'm not trailing on my sister's behind. It feels so good to win a third WPIAL gold medal. And I have no plans to enter the boys' singles tournament next year."

Timko claimed her third WPIAL gold medal with a come-from-behind, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, win against Sewickley Academy sophomore Logan Antill last Friday at Norwin High School.

"I told Tanya that it would be a dogfight," said Chartiers-Houston coach Chuck Taylor of the title match, which lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. "I told her it wouldn't be a short match. I thought they would be out there close to three hours.

"There were two strong-willed girls. Whoever had the strongest will would win the match. They are both tough, but Tanya hung in there."

Timko, who was seeded fourth in the 18-girl bracket, earned her title berth with a hard fought, 6-4, 6-4, upset of top-seeded Elise Held of Vincentian in last Thursday's semifinals. Held was the WPIAL runner-up last year.

"Tanya was really up for the semifinal match. She got up real high for that match," Taylor said. "Then the next day she had to get up again. It's hard to climb that mountain two days in a row. That's why she had a slow start."

Timko struggled in the first set, as Antill controlled the action and posted a 6-2 victory.

"The slow start was surprising to me," Timko said. "I'm usually a fast-start type of person."

The match changed drastically when Timko changed her strategy.

"My game plan was to be aggressive, but that wasn't working," she said. "I changed my strategy in the next two sets. I just got the ball in [play] and waited for her to miss. I let her make the mistakes. That had a lot to do with winning the next two sets."

The change in strategy obviously confused Antill.

"After the first set, Tanya changed her game and I didn't know what to do," Antill said. "Then in the third set, I kind of figured it out; I just didn't figure out how to beat her style of play after she changed."

Timko won 6-4, 6-3 the final two sets.

"She's obviously a good player," Antill said. "Her backhand is definitely the strength of her two [shots]. She's really consistent off both sides. She's, of course, good at the net. She showed that last year winning doubles at the boys' tournament. Her serve is good, too. She has good slice on it. She's real competitive and tough mentally."

Timko didn't agree with Antil on one point.

"My serve was really off," said Timko, who had several double faults on serves. "It wasn't too effective, but I did what I needed to do to win. That's all that matters."

Timko will make her PIAA singles debut Nov. 6-7 at the Hershey Racquet Club.

"I will continue to do what we've been doing," said Timko, when asked about getting ready for the PIAA tournament. "We work out at the gym and hit five days a week, and then play matches on Saturday. We're going to continue that and hope for more success."

Winning a PIAA title will be no easy task. Defending champion Madison Cohen of Lower Moreland was only a freshman last year.

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