Black Tennis Pros

Shenay Perry’s road to recovery from knee surgery in late 2007 took a big step Sunday.

Perry of Coral Springs, Fla., defeated Carly Gullickson of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., in Sunday’s USTA Movie Gallery Pro Classic final at Westgate Tennis Center, winning in three sets (4-6, 6-1, 6-3).

The two are close friends and roomed together this week. Perry, who is unseeded, knocked off the eighth-seeded Gullickson for her third straight win over a seeded player. She beat No. 1 Patricia Mayr in the semifinals and No. 7 Angela Haynes in the prior round.

The 24-year-old Perry was ranked No. 40 in the world in 2006, but had right knee surgery in August 2007 and missed a full year of singles play.

In 2006, she was the only American to make the round of 16 at the prestigious Wimbledon tournament.

“It’s great,” Perry said. “It gives me a lot of motivation to know that I can still go out and play at a high level of tennis. I’m pretty happy about that.”

Perry won three doubles titles last year — two with Gullickson — and a 50K singles title in Lawrenceville, Ga., last October.

Her title Sunday was in a tournament with a purse of $75,000. She pocketed $11,400 and 110 ranking points for winning the tournament and Gullickson won $6,080 with 78 ranking points.

But she started off slow, falling 6-4 in the first set as Gullickson won the last three games. Perry dominated the second set with a 6-1 win and didn’t have much trouble in the third with a 6-3 win.

“It was just really tough,” Perry said. “We were both pretty nervous. I don’t think either one of us played our game. I got some opportunities at good times and I think that’s what helped me out.”