Easy really does it for Petra Melounova.

Success has come readily to the Hawaii tennis junior, with a significant twist this season. The three-time Big West player of the year is in the NCAA singles tournament for the third time in as many seasons, an unprecedented feat for the Rainbow Wahine program. Melounova, who became the first UH player to win a match in that tournament two years ago, looks to advance at least as far on Monday when play begins at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

She’s succeeded despite injuries in the past, but this year was different. A shoulder problem that has persisted since October rendered her unable to swing overhead for serves or smashes, two huge aspects of the game. It hasn’t completely healed as she’d hoped.

The solution now is the same as it was then: an underhanded, sliced serve, the counterintuitive brainchild of coach Jun Hernandez prior to regional competition in San Diego in October. They practiced it the day before the 128-player tournament and, to their amazement, she got all the way to the quarterfinals.

“Of course, Coach (thought of it),” Melounova said with a laugh. “I would never dare to do that.”

When it works, the low-and-slow entry can throw off opponents. When it doesn’t, they fire back a winner that Melounova has no chance at.

It’s worked frequently enough that she racked up a 13-2 record at the No. 1 court in 2019 dual matches. That included wins over three ranked players, most notably Cal’s then-No. 30 Julia Rosenqvist. Melounova takes a No. 61 ranking into the NCAAs as the Big West’s automatic qualifier.

She will learn her bracket placement and opponent in the 64-player draw today.

“I’m definitely going to go there and fight and battle and do whatever it takes, even turning my disadvantage into my advantage,” Melounova said.

Her competitive fire — she’ll yell in celebration after earning a big point, or chide herself for allowing one — was lit by her tennis-playing mother, Miroslava, from when she was 5 years old growing up in the town of Havlickuv Brod in the Czech Republic.

“One thing special about her is she hates to lose,” said Hernandez, who discovered her a few summers ago in a European event. “Injured or not, she’ll be competing. And she’ll be giving her best. As a coach, that’s the only thing you can ask for.”

She nearly willed the Wahine to a repeat Big West team title on April 28, but Long Beach State came back to defeat UH in the championship dual match, four courts to three.

Now that the team component is removed and final exams are finished — she’s UH’s women’s academic representative to the Big West as a 4.0 electrical engineering student — it’s allowed for arduous 1-on-1 or 2-on-1 training in the past two weeks.

UH men’s sophomore Blaz Seric, one of her recent sparring partners, called her “the hardest-working tennis player here.” He noted she’s still been able to put pressure on her opponents on serve-receive by forcing them to lift her unorthodox shots back over the net with reduced power, at which point she can crush the ball with a forehand.

“I mean, her tennis IQ is I would say one of the highest in the country. She’s playing really smart,” Seric said. “She has a huge forehand. Really powerful — she can hit through the court, come in, and using her serve into her game to her strategy … to win the points even though you don’t have quite the advantage with the serve.”

Persisting with the tactic during a tight match or when a foe whacks a few back with gusto is another matter.

“It’s really hard to just, don’t freak out and do what you are supposed to do,” Melounova said.

Akin to a person’s remaining senses sharpening over time when one of them is removed, the rest of her skills have been honed to a razor’s edge over the past few months. By necessity, she must be more aggressive during opponents’ service games to negate what she’s lost when she’s behind the line.

“When I’m defending myself, I feel like the game is getting better,” she said. “I think I’m better in the back of the court now. I do whatever it takes to win one point, for sure pushing my limits.”

Hernandez thinks she can do some damage in the bracket with her all-around game and demeanor.

“Her skill-set, her level, is so high,” he said. “She can slice. She can finish at the net. Her forehands are heavy, her groundstrokes are heavy.

“But the main thing, she’s not really scared to be in control of the point. She’s not going to wait until somebody dictates the point; she’s going to be the one to first take it.”