She is getting tricky.

Her shoulder is killing her.

For how Phyllis Blackwell was proceeding yesterday at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, the first option was the applicable one. Blackwell, a tennis instructor from Reno, Nev., teased in a number of underhand serves while stopping No. 2 seed Carolyn Nichols of Lodi 6-3, 6-1 and reaching tomorrow's final in the 50s division of the USTA National Women's 50-90 Hardcourt Championships.

“Sometimes, I just want the other player to see something different,” Blackwell said. “It's just a change-up.”

Some tennis players experience a high degree of pique when a rival arches an underhand serve at them. When this occurs, Blackwell said, she is pleased. “Makes me happy,” she said. “That's part of the reason for doing it.”

Nichols, it should be noted, did not appear nettled by Blackwell's tactics. Blackwell was not quick-pitching her opponent; Nichols had time to deal with the underhand stuff.

In tomorrow's 50s final at 11 a.m., Blackwell, the No. 5 seed, is to match her guile against a finalist in this event a year ago, Susan Wright of Grand Junction, Colo., in a match pitting two former WTA Tour players. Wright moved up with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Tracey Thompson of San Diego.

Blackwell played on the tour from 1980 through '84, being ranked as high in singles as No. 125. For the past 25 years, Blackwell has been teaching tennis. Her appearance at La Jolla is only her third in senior competition. She said she is delighted to be out of Reno's thin air and in an environment in which she can hit out and generate more pace with her strokes.

Wright is the No. 1 seed in the 50s after losing in last year's final to Diane Fishburne of South Carolina. Wright's maiden name was Mehmedbasich. Her father, Enver, said his daughter, then from El Cerrito, as a junior held a No. 3 national ranking in the 12s, 14s, 16s and 18s after being schooled by Dennis Vandermeer at the Berkeley Tennis Club. During this period Chris Evert's sister, Jeanne, was the No. 1-ranked junior.

The meeting between Blackwell and Wright is to be their first.

In the semifinals of the 65s, Suella Steel of La Jolla, inducted last year into the San Diego Tennis Hall of Fame and a winner of 69 national championships, had Molly Hahn, a member of the faculty at Tufts University, upend her 6-4, 6-4. Hahn terms herself a “probabilist,” meaning she deals with probabilities. Steel was using this event to tighten her game before competing next week in a National Indoor tournament in Kansas City.

At 9 a.m. today, Dodo Cheney of La Jolla, who has collected 370 of the gold balls the USTA awards national champions, is to oppose a longtime rival, Pat Henry Yeomans, for the 90s title. Including doubles matches, Yeomans said, she has engaged Cheney about 300 times. Yeomans said she only once has outplayed Cheney in singles – at Ojai some years ago.

Jerry Magee: (619) 293-1830; jerry.magee@uniontrib.com