Gabrielle Villegas has been here before — but this time last year, she wasn’t on the court alone.

Now playing solo on the state-championship stage, the Great Neck South eighth-grader fought through an epic semifinal battle, and dropped the first two points of the third set. A gutsy point at the net sparked her momentum and she carried that through a tense tiebreaker to win.

Villegas outlasted Sakura Hino of Purchase’s Keio Academy, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (4), earning a spot in the state singles championship match — scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing — against Shenendehowa’s Jolie Chichak.

“It was very tight, [Hino] was unbelievable,” Villegas said. “It felt like we were just smashing the ball back and forth; it was definitely int

See Full Page