iTennis John Letts Men's Open

I played my first tournament in about a month this past weekend. It was a local men’s open tournament in Los Angeles called the 8^th Annual Spencer Letts Memorial. I have been training hard the past few weeks and now I am playing a few men’s opens before travelling to Asia in May.

I won my 1^st round against a player who plays at Cypress College. He was a consistent baseliner who lacked power but made a lot of shots. I dominated with my serve and won 6-2, 6-1 for a good 1^st match.

In the second round I played against a guy who played at Univeristy of Portland about 10 years ago. He still plays a lot of doubles as he has a high-level serve and good volleys. I won the first set 6-2, breaking him a few times and taking care of my serve. He kept the second set set close by serving well but I got the break at 4-4 in the 2^nd set and served out the match 6-2, 6-4.

In the quarters I played against Nicholas Shamma who plays the Futures cirucit and a lot of the Men’s opens. He is a big server and pretty solid off the ground with good groundstrokes. I got off to a poor start in this match by getting broke in my first 2 service games with a few double faults to go down 0-3. I lost the first set 2-6, after he played solid tennis and not making many mistakes. I upped my level in the 2^nd set by serving better and coming to the net a little more. I got up a break 4-1 before he broke me to even the set. At 4-4, I got a good hold before I broke him again to take the second set 6-4. In this tournament we played a 10-point tiebreak for the 3^rd set. It was close in the beginning as we were winning each other's service points. But I got a lead to go up 7-5 and would hold on to it. I closed out the match with a good serve + 1 to win the match 2-6, 6-4, 10-7.

In the semis I played against Emmanuel Mensah who is one of the top open players in Southern California. He is in his late 20's but has won a lot of tournaments in the last few years. He has a good, crafty game with a one-handed backhand. He uses the slice a lot and has good feel and drop shots. I lost to him in a close match in Feburary when we played. The 1^st was very close as we had a lot of Deuce games. We broke each other early and then there were no breaks until I broke him at 4-4. He saved the first few set points with great shots before I finally sealed it 6-4. I played a couple good games in the second set to go up 3-0 but he kept fighting and battled back. I served for the match at 5-4 in the 2^nd, but he once again came up with clutch points. In the tiebreak, I got out to a big lead at 5-1 before he played a few good points. He seemed to play his best tennis when he was down. I saved one set point at 5-6 before winning the last two points to close out the match 6-4, 7-6(6). This was a tough 2-hour match with quality points.

In the finals I played against Sebastian Rivera, who had a career high of 600 ATP about 5 years ago. He is a lefty with a good lefty slice serve and a good forehand. He also has a one-handed backhand with a good slice. He broke me in the 1^st game of the match, and I had a lot of looks in his service games but wasn’t converting the break points. So just one break of serve and he took the 1^st set 6-3. He continued to play at a good level in the second set, and I tried to come to the net more and play more aggressive. He made a lot of passing shots and put the ball in tough places when I came forward. I played an ok match in the finals, but credit to him for playing at a high level. I lost the finals 3-6, 1-6 to a good player.

It was good tournament to get 5 matches and see where my level was at. I picked up $250 prize money for making the finals. My next tournament is the Yonex Cup Championships starting this Thursday, which is another men’s open in Palos Verdes, CA.