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Hey Tennis Friends!

Last weekend, one of my local tennis venues had a USTA sanctioned Open event, and I was there to cover it. What follows are excerpts from my comprehensive press coverage, as well as my video report from the three day event known as the iTennis/Andulka Tennis Center Adult Open Championships.

3 OF TOP 5 SO-CAL MEN & TOP 2 SO-CAL WOMEN
COMPETE IN INAUGURAL EVENT

RIVERSIDE, CA., (Oct. 28, 2011)– Despite the early start of 8:00am, the cool morning soon turned to some heated competition. With a handful of international entries, the main draw is much more diverse than just a local tournament. There are entries from Canada, Australia, Russia, and Slovakia, to name a few.

Petra Jurova
#2 Seed
Women’s Singles
Petra came to this tournament from her native Slovakia. She is here, in the United States to practice her game preparing for play in 10k and 25k WTA Tour events. Petra currently holds the number two ranking in women’s singles, for Open players in the USTA Southern California Section. After blanking Camille Requiestas 6-0, 6-0 in her first round, she said she is feeling very good about her game.

Luis Perez
#2 Seed
Men’s Singles
The number four ranked men’s singles Open player in the USTA Southern California Section, Luis Perez, after a bye in the first round, made easy work of an injured Otis Vu, 6-0, 6-0, in the round of 16. “I was playing good, and he was tired from the first match, so, it was a good match for starting the tournament, getting in the rhythm”, observed Perez. A couple of months ago, Perez was in Riverside to take home the championship trophy at the Lynn Scott Memorial Tournament. “I like to play weekend tournaments, I like to compete. Every time I go to a new tournament, it’s a new experience for me, which is great!”

Amit Inbar
#4 Seed
Men’s Singles
The number five singles Open player in the USTA Southern California Section, Amit Inbar, took less than an hour to dispatch Kevin Griffin 6-0, 6-1 in his second round match. “I’m feeling confident in my game and feeling positive in my play.” Inbar, a current senior at UCLA, who recently was a finalist in last month’s Calabasas Pro Open Championships, followed with, “It’s a great atmosphere, it’s a nice facility. It’s my first time in Riverside, and I’m very impressed!”

WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS, MOST SEEDS
BATTLE THROUGH INAUGURAL EVENT

RIVERSIDE, CA., (Oct. 29, 2011) – The successful first day of this inaugural event was followed by another “perfect weather” day for the next rounds. The start time of 8:30am quickly burned off the cool morning into a battlefield of hot action on the hard courts!

Three of the top five seeds in men’s singles, Robert Yim, Amit Inbar, and Peter Lucassen, made it through the round of 16 in straight sets. Brian Battistone, with his unique double-handled racket and volleyball serve, fought off a tough competitor, Tyler Pham, to advance to the quarterfinal in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The afternoon began with the men’s singles quarterfinals. The top seeds left in the draw, Battistone (3), Perez (2), and Inbar (1), won all of their matches in two sets. The fourth quarterfinal, pitted the number one seed, Robert Yim, against the number five seed, Peter Lucassen. That match ended in Lucassen’s favor with a walk-off retirement by Yim.

Because of the limitations of video camera placement on the outer courts, I could only capture the matches on Center Court. Here is my video report for day two’s Center Court events:

The results for the matches that I featured in the video report are:

Lindsey Nelson d. Mazy Watrous 6-3, 6-0

Amit Inbar / Luis Perez
d. Julian Barham / Robert Ortiz 6-0, 6-3

Abraham Hewko / Andrew Scorteanu
d. Trent Aaron / Brian Battistone 6-4, 1-6, [10-8]

Petra Jurova
#2 Seed
Women’s Singles
In the second women’s singles semifinal, the number four seed, Shayne Austin, fell to Petra Jurova 7-6(1), 6-4. Since Jurova had only dropped a total two games in her first two rounds, this was a little more than she was used to. “It’s so hot!”, said a relieved Jurova, who is not yet used to what locals consider mild temperatures for the Inland Empire. “For me it was really difficult, because I’m not used to it at all.” After a post-match massage, she added, “I’m good now, and ready for the finals tomorrow!”

SEMIFINALS & FINALS BRING OUT THE CROWD
AT INAUGURAL EVENT

RIVERSIDE, CA., (Oct. 30, 2011)– The beautiful weather continued for the third, and final, day of this inaugural event. After an early men’s singles semifinal round, finalists Amit Inbar and Brian Battistone headed to the proverbial locker room to await the afternoon championship round.

Lindsey Nelson
#1 Seed
Women’s Singles
The women’s singles championship round featured the top two seeds, who also happen to be the top two players in Southern California, at the Open level. Lindsey Nelson, the number one seed, used her skillful serve and aggressive baseline game to overpower the number two seed, Petra Jurova. In just less than an hour, Nelson dismissed Jurova, 6-1, 6-0. Nelson had felt really good about her play this week, “You, kind of, just get used to the conditions. It’s a little different here, the ball’s hot, travels fast”, said the Orange Country resident, “You get used to playing matches again, and it gets easier!”

Brian Battistone
#3 Seed
Men’s Singles
With Battistone’s eye catching two-handled racket (you read that correctly, “TWO-HANDLED RACKET”), and his revolutionary volleyball-style serve, he confounded his opponent more often with his serve, than his gameplay. Inbar had his own success with his powerful serve, and occasional following volley, but, in the end, it was the more consistent Battistone who would prevail, 6-3, 6-4. “I, personally, felt confident in my serve,” assessed Battistone, “My first serve percentage wasn’t that great, but, my second serves, I was putting in a lot of action, going for my second serves.” Though he spends his time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, he used to play football for Palm Desert High School, and had not been to Riverside in many years. He was pleasantly surprised by this new facility, “This tournament is fantastic! It exceeded my expectations in every way. It was really a pleasure to be here!”

In the Women’s doubles final, the team of Alejandra Borja and Andulka teaching pro Marcela Montanha defeated the sister team-up of Clarissa and Camille Requiestas, 6-0, 6-3.

Amit Inbar & Luis Perez
#2 Seeds
Men’s Doubles
The final match of the tournament was the men’s doubles championship, and featured the number four seeds, Abe Hewko and Andy Scorteanu, against the number two seeds, Amit Inbar and Luis Perez. Hewko, a tennis student of Scorteanu’s, came up with a couple of big serving aces at critical points during the match. With a lot of variety in the gameplay, the crowd was entertained by the high-speed ground strokes and quick net-volley battles. In the end, Inbar/Perez were too much for their opponents, and prevailed with a 6-4, 6-0 championship win. Perez, who had retired against his partner in their earlier singles semifinal, was able to recover from his earlier injury in time for the doubles final. According to Perez, they cemented the win by picking it up in the second set, “We started returning better, in the second set, . . . giving them more trouble.” Inbar followed with, “They were a good team, and they put up a fight, but, we came out on top!”

Located in Riverside, California, here is the link where you can find more information about this facility:

AndulkaTennis.com

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I’ll see you next time, with more tennis, . . . outside the lines!

– Marcus Tennis