Browne, Jacutin-Mariona earn sweet titles in 30 Indoors

No. 3 seed Tyler Browne, left, beat No. 2 Calle Hansen
7-6 (1), 6-4 on Monday for the men's singles title in the
USTA National 30 Indoors. Photo by Paul Bauman

   GOLD RIVER, Calif. — The way Tyler Browne looks now, it's hard to believe he had a weight problem as a kid.
   A lean 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 155 pounds (70.3 kilograms), Browne darted around the court during his 7-6 (1), 6-4 victory over towering Calle Hansen on Monday in the final of the USTA National Men's, Women's & Mixed 30 Indoor Championships at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center.
   After Browne not only reached a low, skidding backhand approach in the second set but ripped a forehand cross-court passing shot, Hansen yelled good-naturedly across the net, "What are you, top 100 in the world?"
   Browne developed his massive forehand, on which he employs an open stance and takes a big windup, by necessity.
   "I was a pretty chubby child," admitted Browne, the 30-year-old associate men's head coach at Cal, his alma mater. "I didn't want to hit more than three shots (during a point). When I was 16, my junior year in high school, a knee injury sidelined me, and one of the factors was weight. Losing weight helped me cure the injury and regain my fire. It was one of those life-changing moments."
   Earlier Monday, 5-foot (1.52-meter) Marisue Jacutin-Mariona of Los Altos in the San Francisco Bay Area overcame soreness, fatigue and an upset stomach to outslug Evgenia (Subbotina) Dockter of Atlanta 6-4, 6-2 for her second straight women's singles title in the tournament.
   Browne said that at 12 years old, he was 5-foot-5 (1.66 meters) and 165 pounds (75.0 kilograms).
   "My mom cooks everything," explained Browne, who lives in Walnut Creek. "She's a baker. The joke is my mom is the 'cookie lady.' When I was a child, I ate a lot of cookies.
   "She's the team mom (for Cal). She makes cookies and lasagna. The key was to stop eating my mom's cooking, even though she didn't like that."

   Browne's mother, Lindya, attended Monday's final. A tiny former player in Indonesia, she was armed with shopping bags full of homemade food, including chocolate chip brownies, butterscotch brownies, chocolate chip cookies, pecan chocolate chip mounds, lemon bars and banana bread.

   After Browne slimmed down in high school, he enrolled at Cal and earned second-team all-Pacific-12 Conference honors as a junior in 2006. On Cal's website, he was described as "an incredibly gifted athlete."

No. 2 seed Marisue Jacutin-Mariona play-
fully displays her gold ball in women's
singles. Photo by Paul Bauman 

   Immediately after Browne graduated from Cal in sociology in 2008, longtime Bears head coach Peter Wright hired him as an assistant.
   "I couldn't pass it up, but the competitive bug never leaves me," Browne said. "It's nice to get a chance to play once in a while."
   Browne became eligible for the 30s last year (his birthday is in August) but played only men's doubles and mixed doubles in the 2015 National Indoors, winning both.
   "I had never won a gold ball," he explained. "I wanted to make sure I was fully healthy for men's doubles and mixed. (Winning them) got the monkey off my back. I wanted to see if I could get one in singles (this year) to complete the trifecta."
   Browne also won titles in men's doubles and mixed doubles this time, making him 5 for 5 lifetime in the tournament.
   Even though Browne hadn't played a tournament since last summer, he was sharp against the 6-foot-5 (1.95-meter) Hansen and his booming serve. It wasn't really surprising — Browne hits against young, powerful players every day in his job.
   Cal (17-6), ranked 16th nationally, will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division I Championships today.
   "Fortunately, my job requires me to play a lot of tennis," Browne said. "I hit with the Cal guys and play sets with them if there's an odd man. My game has definitely evolved as a coach. I wish I had the brain in college that I have now."
   Hansen, a 36-year-old Swedish native and former Pepperdine All-American, returned to the USTA 30 Indoors for the first time since winning his second straight title in the tournament in 2013.
   "I took a break," said Hansen, the tennis director at the Westlake Athletic Club near Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area. "I have a 10-month-old baby, and it's harder to travel."
   Browne said the key in the final was his return of serve.
   "Serving as well as he does, I had to make a lot of returns and put pressure on his second serve. When we got into a rally, I had to set up early and get him on the move," said the third-seeded Browne, who wore a Cal outfit in the title match.
   Hansen served for the first set at 5-3 but was broken on a wide cross-court backhand. Browne ran away with the tiebreaker, hitting three well-placed aces.
   Both players traded early breaks in the second set and held serve until the last game of the match. Hansen fell behind 0-30 on two forehand winners by Browne and couldn't recover.

Jacutin-Mariona, center, poses with singles runner-up Evgenia Dockter,
left, and third-place finisher Francesca LaO. Photo by Paul Bauman

   "He was just solid from the baseline," Hansen, seeded second, said of the match. "He moved the ball around a lot and got me running around. I like to move forward, but I didn't have much opportunity. I played pretty well: the first set was really good, the second up and down.
   "I don't play a lot of tournaments. I try to use a slice and slow the (pace) down, but it didn't bother him. I felt if I slowed it down, I had to run even more."
   Like Browne, Jacutin (pronounced Ja-COO-tin)-Mariona confesses to a sweet tooth but doesn't show it. When she indulges, she balloons from 110 pounds (49.9 kilograms) all the way up to 112 (50.8 kilograms).
   On Sunday, the second-seeded Jacutin-Mariona needed three hours to subdue Francesca LaO of San Francisco 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 in the semifinals.
   "I had sushi (Sunday) night, my body was hurting, and I didn't know how I was going to get out here (for the final)," said Jacutin-Mariona, a former No. 1 junior and woman in the Philippines who will turn 37 on May 14. "Waking up, everything seemed wrong. Moving around, I thought I'd feel better, and that's exactly what happened."
   Using her devastating two-handed forehand, Jacutin-Mariona bolted to a 5-1 lead in both sets. The top-seeded Dockter, a 32-year-old Belarus native making her tournament debut, put up a fight in the first set but tired in the second.
   "She was a little more consistent than I was and able to place the ball better," lamented Dockter, who was named second-team all-Southeastern Conference as a senior at Georgia in 2006. "She was able to hit the right shots when she needed them."
   Both Jacutin-Mariona and Dockter have two children and coach or teach tennis part-time.
   Better keep those kids away from cookies.

USTA NATIONAL 30 INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

In Gold River, Calif.

Men's singles

Final

   Tyler Browne (3), Walnut Creek, def. Calle Hansen (2), Newbury Park, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Third place

   Jan Tiilikainen (1), Reno, def. Vittorio Fratta, Walnut Creek, 6-2, 6-1.

Men's doubles

Final

   Tyler Browne, Walnut Creek, and Nicholas Brunner (1), San Francisco, def. Justin Garcia and Whit Livingston, Sacramento, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Third place

   Derek Acker, South Wales, N.Y., and Calle Hansen, Newbury Park, def. Dave Kuhn, Elk Grove, and Seth Spector, Fair Oaks, 6-4, 6-3.

Women's singles

Final

   Marisue B. Jacutin-Mariona (2), Los Altos, def. Evgenia Dockter (1), Atlanta, 6-4, 6-2.

Third place

   Francesca LaO, San Francisco, def. Brooke Biddle, Dallas, 6-0, 6-2.

Women's doubles

Final

   Isabella Kling, Orangevale, and Laura McGaffigan (2), Folsom, def. Marisue B. Jacutin-Mariona, Los Altos, and Francesca LaO (1), San Francisco, 6-3, 6-3.

Third place

   Evgenia Dockter, Atlanta, and Erika Takeuchi, Seattle, def. Camille Benvenuti, Sacramento, and Stacey Griggs, Carmichael, walkover.

Mixed doubles

Final

   Tyler Browne, Walnut Creek, and Francesca LaO (1), San Francisco, def. Evgenia Dockter, Atlanta, and Vittorio Fratta, Walnut Creek, walkover.

Third place

   Lawrence Chan and Erika Takeuchi, Seattle, def. Michelle Chapple, Rancho Murieta, and Jeff Shin, Sacramento, 6-1, 6-2.

Lipsky title, college tourney finals, USTA 30 Indoors

   Fourth-seeded Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky of the United States edged top-seeded Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland 6-4, 3-6 [10-8] today to win the Millennium Estoril Open in Portugal.
   Both champions are 34-year-old doubles specialists with Northern California connections.
   Butorac, a left-hander living in Cambridge, Mass., won the first of his 18 ATP World Tour doubles titles in the SAP Open in San Jose in 2007 with Jamie Murray, Andy's older brother who's now ranked No. 1 in men's doubles. Butorac also played for the Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2008.
   The last SAP Open was played in 2013 after 125 years in Northern California under various names, and the Capitals were disbanded in 2014 after 28 years in Sacramento.
   Lipsky, a right-hander living in Irvine, Calif., led Stanford to the NCAA team title in 2000 and reached the 2002 NCAA doubles final with David Martin. Two of Lipsky's 15 ATP doubles titles came in San Jose (2008 with Martin and 2011 with Rajeev Ram).
   Entering Estoril, Lipsky was ranked 42nd and Butorac 48th.
   Lipsky won his second straight Estoril title and third overall. He triumphed with Butorac in 2009 and Treat Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, last year.
   "I wish I new the secret of our success here, because then I could just do the same thing everywhere else," Lipsky said on atpworldtour.com. "I love the weather here. It reminds me of California, where I live. If we could do this every week, it'd be great."
   Butorac has won at least one doubles title in each of the past 10 years and Lipsky in each of the past nine. Estoril was their third title together; they also won Valencia last year.
   "Eric and I have been friends for a long time, and we played together for six or eight months back in 2009," Lipsky said. "We've talked about playing together again for a long time. After Wimbledon last year, we gave it a shot and have had good success. Being friends on and off the court helps a lot in doubles."
   Colleges -- The third-seeded UNLV women surprised top-seeded Fresno State 4-2 to win the Mountain West Conference Championships in Fort Collins, Colo.
   The Lady Rebels (24-1), ranked 72nd, earned an automatic bid in the NCAA Championships, which begin May 13 at campus sites. The Bulldogs (19-9), ranked 47th, could receive an at-large bid when the bracket is announced on Tuesday. The NCAA singles and doubles fields will be released on Wednesday.
   The top-seeded Weber State men and third-seeded Idaho women also earned automatic NCAA bids with titles in the Big Sky Conference Championships at the Gold River Racquet Club in the Sacramento area.
   The Wildcats edged second-seeded Idaho 4-3, and the Vandals coasted past top-seeded Northern Arizona 4-0 for their second straight crown.
   USTA 30 Indoors -- No. 3 seed Tyler Browne, 30, of Walnut Creek defeated No. 1 Jan Tiilikainen, 44, of Reno 6-3, 6-4 in the men's semifinals of the USTA National Men's, Women's & Mixed 30 Indoor Championships at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center in Gold River.
   Tiilikainen has won the title six times, including the last two.
   Browne, a former Cal standout and now the associate head coach of the Bears men, will face No. 2 seed Calle Hansen of Newbury Park in the Los Angeles region for the title on Monday at 11 a.m.
   Hansen, a 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) former Pepperdine All-American, dominated unseeded Vittorio Fratta of Walnut Creek 6-0, 6-2.
   Hansen, 36, is playing in the USTA 30 Indoors for the first time since winning his second straight title in the tournament in 2013.
   On the women's side, No. 1 seed Evgenia Dockter of Atlanta and No. 2 seed and defending champion Marisue Jacutin-Mariona of Los Altos advanced to Monday's 9 a.m. final in contrasting fashion.
   Dockter crushed Brooke Biddle of Dallas 6-0, 6-1, while Jacutin-Mariona outlasted Francesca LaO of San Francisco 7-5, 4-6, 7-5.

Novikov doubles title, college tourneys, USTA 30 Indoors

Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay
Area won the doubles title in the Tallahassee (Fla.)
Challenger with Julio Peralta of Chile. 2015 photo
by Paul Bauman

   Dennis Novikov of Milpitas in the San Francisco Bay Area and Julio Peralta of Chile on Saturday won the doubles title in the $50,000 Tallahassee (Fla.) Challenger for the second consecutive year.
   The top-seeded pair edged unseeded Peter Luczak, a former Fresno State star, and Marc Polmans of Australia 3-6, 6-4 [12-10] in the final on green clay.
   Novikov also won the Maui Challenger doubles crown in January with Jason Jung, a Los Angeles-area native who plays for Taiwan.
   Quentin Halys of France won the Tallahassee singles title in a battle of top teenage prospects. Halys, 19, defeated Frances Tiafoe, 18, of Boca Raton, Fla., 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-2.
   Halys and Tiafoe reached the semifinals of the Tiburon and Fairfield Challengers, respectively, in Northern California last October.
   In the Estoril (Portugal) Open doubles semifinals, fourth-seeded Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky, a former Stanford All-American, beat second-seeded Treat Huey, a Washington, D.C., native who plays for the Philippines, and Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-4, 7-5.
   Butorac, who played for the now-defunct Sacramento Capitals of World TeamTennis in 2008, and Lipsky will take on top-seeded Lukasz Kubot and Marcin Matkowski of Poland.
   Huey and Lipsky won the 2015 title.
   Colleges -- The No. 1-seeded Fresno State women beat No. 4 San Jose State 4-2 to reach the final of the Mountain West Conference Championships in Fort Collins, Colo. The Bulldogs, ranked 47th, will face UNLV, seeded third and ranked 72nd, for the title.
   The No. 8-seeded Fresno State men lost to No. 4 UNLV 4-2 in the Mountain West semifinals in Las Vegas.
   The Pepperdine women, seeded first and ranked eighth, pounded third-seeded Saint Mary's 4-0 in Claremont, Calif., to win their fourth straight title in the West Coast Conference Championships.
   The host Sacramento State men and women lost in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Championships at the Gold River Racquet Club. The No. 5-seeded Hornets men fell to No. 1 Weber State 4-1, and the No. 2 Hornets women lost to No. 3 and defending champion Idaho 4-2.
   The Sac State women had reached the Big Sky final for 14 consecutive years, winning 13 straight titles before falling in last year's final.
   USTA 30 Indoors -- Vittorio Fratta of Walnut Creek upset fourth-seeded Thomas Morton of Citrus Heights 7-6 (5), 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the USTA National Men's, Women's & Mixed 30 Indoor Championships at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center in Gold River.
   In today's men's semifinals, Fratta will face No. 2 seed Calle Hansen, 36, of Newbury Park at 9 a.m., and No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion Jan Tiilikainen, 44, of Reno will play No. 3 Tyler Browne, 30, of Walnut Creek at noon.
   Browne, a former Cal standout and now the associate head coach of the Bears men, eliminated 2015 runner-up Ryan Sablan of Martinez 6-4, 6-2.
   Both women's semis are scheduled for 9 a.m. No. 1 seed Evgenia Dockter of Atlanta will face Brooke Biddle of Dallas, and No. 2 seed and defending champion Marisue Jacutin-Mariona of Los Altos will meet Francesca LaO of San Francisco.

Tiilikainen, Hansen top men's field in USTA 30 Indoors

Calle Hansen returns to the USTA National 30 Indoors
for the first time since winning his second straight title
in the tournament in 2013. 2012 photo by Paul Bauman

   Jan Tiilikainen is the men's top seed, the two-time defending champion and a six-time winner in the $2,000 USTA National Men's, Women's and Mixed 30 Indoor Championships.
   But the 44-year-old teaching pro from Reno is not the favorite in the tournament, which began Friday at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center in the Sacramento suburb of Gold River.
   That distinction goes to second-seeded Calle Hansen, 36, of Newbury Park in the Los Angeles area. The former Pepperdine All-American returns to the 30 Indoors for the first time since winning his second straight title in the tournament in 2013.
   The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Hansen, a Swedish native, defeated the 5-foot-11 (1.80-meter) Tiilikainen, originally from Finland, in the 2012 semifinals and 2013 final.
   Both competitors are scheduled to play in today's quarterfinals after receiving first-round byes. Tiilikainen will face Michael Kwong of Woodland at 11 a.m., and Hansen will meet Jordan Boyls of Folsom at 1 p.m.
   Tyler Browne, a 30-year-old former Cal standout from Walnut Creek, is seeded third.
   Women's singles begins with today's quarterfinals. Top-seeded Evgenia Dockter of Atlanta drew a first-round bye, and second seed and defending champion Marisue Jacutin-Mariona of Los Altos is scheduled to play Rachel Janssen of Farmers Branch, Texas, at 11:30 a.m.
   Matt Seeberger, a doubles specialist from Redwood City ranked No. 178 in the world, is seeded second with Kwong. They are scheduled to play Derek Acker of South Wales, N.Y., and Hansen in the first round (quarterfinals) today at 4 p.m.

Klinger wins battle of top Bay Area juniors for title

Cameron Klinger, right, defeated Lane Leschly to win the USTA
National Open boys 16s in Elk Grove. Photo by Paul Bauman

   ELK GROVE -- Cameron Klinger and Lane Leschly, nationally ranked 15-year-olds, live about 20 miles (32 kilometers) apart in the San Francisco Bay Area.
   So they've played each other since they were toddlers, right?
   Not exactly.
   Klinger and Leschly met for the first time Monday in the boys 16 singles final of the USTA National Open at the Laguna Creek Racquet Club.
   Klinger, ranked No. 34 in the 18s and No. 32 in the 16s, won the battle of hard-hitting baseliners 6-3, 7-5 for his second singles title in two weeks in the Sacramento area. He also took the 18s crown at the Rio del Oro Championships at the Rio del Oro Racquet Club in Sacramento. Leschly, ranked No. 23 in the 16s, breezed to the 16s title in that tournament.
   The best career results of both players came in the 14s of the USTA National Hardcourt Championships in San Antonio. Klinger swept the singles and doubles titles in 2011, and Leschly reached the singles quarterfinals and doubles final last summer.

Claire Liu, 12, left, beat Sarah Hu for the girls 16s title
in Elk Grove. Photo by Paul Bauman

   In Monday's girls 16 singles final, second-seeded Claire Liu routed third-seeded Sarah Hu of Oakland 6-0, 6-3. Liu, from Thousand Oaks in the Los Angeles area, will turn 13 on May 25. She defeated CiCi Bellis of Atherton to win the 12s singles crown at the prestigious Orange Bowl in Coral Gables, Fla., in 2011.
   Klinger, from urban San Jose, is eight months older than Leschly, of wealthy Atherton near Stanford University. Klinger will turn 16 on Aug. 1; Leschly turned 15 on April 2. Also, Klinger has trained out of the area, according to Leschly's mother, Darcy. Klinger was not available after Monday's match. The players did team up in doubles in the USTA National Open, winning the title on Sunday.
   Both Klinger and Leschly possess strong serves and topspin groundstrokes and employ two-handed backhands. That's where the similarities end, though. Klinger, 6-foot-2 (1.88 meters), has more firepower than Leschly, 5-9 (1.75 meters), and is far more emotional on the court.
   After hitting winners, Klinger almost invariably pumped his fist. After breaking serve, he yelled "C'mon!" And after committing errors, he swatted the ball against the fence, dropped his racket in frustration or berated himself aloud.
   Leschly, meanwhile, remained stoic throughout the match. He even smiled after netting an easy overhead on match point. When is the last time you saw that?
   "I try to keep my composure on the court," Leschly, who knocked off top-seeded Kalman Boyd in the first round, explained afterward. "That's one of the main things my dad tells me. As long as I keep my composure, I feel it's a good match."
   Mark Leschly, a managing partner of a venture capital firm and Lane's coach, attended Monday's match with Darcy. Mark, the son of Danish Davis Cup veteran Jan Leschly, reached No. 22 in the college rankings as a Harvard junior in 1989 and briefly played professionally before a rotator cuff injury ended his career.
   Monday's match featured many long baseline rallies, and one game in the first set lasted 24 points. Leschly served for the second set at 5-4.
   "I thought we both played well (in the match)," Leschly said. "Cameron stepped it up and played a great game when I was serving at 5-4. He went up 40-0. Kudos to him."
   Leschly was coming off a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory over fifth-seeded Jonathan Li of Cupertino in the semifinals.
   "I was a bit sore in the morning, but it had no effect in the (final)," said Leschly, who was broken early in the first set. "I got loosened up and was fine. Cameron played better than me today."
  USTA National Open boys 14s in Alameda -- Third-seeded Sean Hill of Berkeley topped second-seeded Alafia Ayeni of San Diego 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 for the title at the Harbor Bay Club.
   National 30 Indoors in Gold River -- Top seeds Calle Hansen of Newbury Park in the Los Angeles area and Romana Tedjakusuma of Tracy retained their singles titles at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center.
   The 6-foot-5 (1.96-meter) Hansen, a 33-year-old native of Sweden and former Pepperdine All-American, beat second seed and four-time champion Jan Tiilikainen of Reno 7-5, 6-2.
   The 5-foot-2 (1.57-meter) Tedjakusuma, a 36-year-old native of Indonesia, dominated Francesca LaO of Bellevue, Wash., 6-2, 6-0. Tedjakusuma peaked at No. 82 in the world at 17 in 1994 but later suffered burnout and quit to attend Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La.

OTHER FINALS

USTA National Open

At Laguna Creek Racquet Club in Elk Grove

Boys 16 doubles

   Cameron Klinger, San Jose, and Lane Leschly, Atherton, def. Andrew Gu, El Cerrito, and Jonathan Li (3), Cupertino, 8-3.

Girls 16 doubles

   Kelly Chen, Cerritos, and Claire Liu, Thousand Oaks, def. Jessica Livianu, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Ally McKenzie, Glendale, 8-2.

At Harbor Bay Club in Alameda

Boys 14 doubles

   Alafia Ayeni, San Diego, and Stefano Tsorotiotis (3), Libertyville, Ill., def. Nate Eazor, Dallas, and Kailas Shekar (4), Cupertino, 8-5.

National 30 Indoors

At Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center in Gold River

Men's doubles

   Calle Hansen, Newbury Park, and Sherif Zaher (1), Folsom, def. Ryan Sablan, Martinez, and Jeff Thomsen, Newport Beach, 6-3, 6-4.

Women's doubles

   Marisue Jacutin-Mariona, Los Altos, Romana Tedjakusuma (1), Tracy, def. Michelle Chapple, Rancho Murieta, and Isabella Kling (2), Orangevale, 6-1, 6-3.

Mixed doubles

   Tedjakusuma and Zaher (1) def. Sarah Ansboury, Portland, Ore., and Monty Basnyat, Sacramento, 6-1, 6-0.

Local players fall in National 30 finals

Calle Hansen beat Sherif  Zaher for the men's
singles title at the USTA National 30 Indoor
Championships in Gold River. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   It was a tough day for hometown players.
   Sherif Zaher and Kelly Wilson, both from the Sacramento area, won a combined five games Monday in the singles finals of the $10,000 USTA National 30 Indoor Championships at the Spare Time Indoor Tennis Center in Gold River.
   Zaher, seeded fifth in the men's draw, lost to No. 3 Calle Hansen of Newbury Park in the Los Angeles area 6-2, 6-1, and Wilson, the second-seeded woman, fell to No. 1 Romana Tedjakusuma of Tracy 6-1, 6-1. Each champion pocketed $1,000 and each runner-up $700.
   Zaher, a 5-foot-10 left-hander from Folsom, earned only one break point against Hansen, a 6-foot-5 right-hander. It came in the second game of the second set, and Hansen saved it with a backhand volley set up by a big serve. After the point, the frustrated Zaher cried, "He's 6-foot-20!"
  "He's a great all-around player," Zaher, a 33-year-old native of Cairo, Egypt, said after his first career match against Hansen. "He has good groundstrokes, a good volley and obviously a good serve. He does everything pretty good."
   Including play defense.
   "His court coverage is really good," marveled Zaher, the Big Sky Conference MVP in 2001 and 2002 at Sacramento State. "He made it hard for me to put the ball away."

Romana Tedjakusuma, left, receives a gold ball after beating
Kelly Wilson, background, in the women's singles final of
the National 30 Indoors for the second consecutive year.
Photo by Paul Bauman

  Hansen, a former All-American at Pepperdine, never came close to losing a set in four matches. His closest match was 6-3, 6-3 over top-seeded Jan Tiilikainen, the two-time defending champion and four-time winner, in the semifinals.
   "I've been playing super good the last three weeks," conceded Hansen, who reached No. 717 in the world in singles and No. 520 in doubles before knee surgery and financial considerations ended his brief professional career. "I've only played three tournaments in the last year. Three weeks ago, I played a local tournament (near Newbury Park) and beat two or three really good players. It was a good warmup for these players. When you're not playing as much, it's like you're more relaxed."
   Also, the 32-year-old native of Sweden was comfortable playing indoors.
   "I grew up playing indoors in Sweden," he noted. "I'm used to it. It fits my game. I serve well indoors. There's no sun, no wind and no sound. It's very clean hitting."
   Hansen, however, played in the tournament for the first time this year. He wanted to play on grass last year, so he entered the National 30 Grass Court Championships in Philadelphia. After winning it, he decided to play more national championships. Other than that, he said he's "too busy" as the co-director of tennis at the Westlake Tennis and Swim Club to play more tournaments.
  The women's final, a rematch of Tedjakusuma's 7-5, 6-2 victory for last year's title, was closer than the score indicated. Wilson engaged her opponent in many long rallies and games but tired in them after playing a 3 1/2-hour singles semifinal, plus women's doubles and mixed doubles, on Sunday.
   "Where I'd really feel it was when I'd get deep into the longer points," said Wilson, a 38-year-old teaching pro at the nearby Gold River Racquet Club formerly ranked in the top 200 in the world. "When I had some opportunities to convert defense to offense, I couldn't organize my feet enough. I didn't have the quickness to organize my shot."
   The 5-foot-2 Tedjakusuma, meanwhile, was fresh after winning 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals and made few errors.
   "I played solid groundstrokes and went for my shots, and it worked out," said the 35-year-old Indonesia native, whose parents live in Tracy.
   In 1994, Tedjakusuma reached the third round of the Australian Open and a career-high ranking of No. 82 at 17 years old. However, she abruptly left the tour to attend Nicholls State in Thibodaux, La., for four years. She eventually returned to pro tennis only to find the sport increasingly dominated by tall, powerful players. Despite struggling, she said she doesn't regret going to college.
   "Not really. I didn't enjoy (the tour) anymore. I was kind of burned out," said Tedjakusuma, who plays full-time in the United States and is ranked No. 729. "Everybody always asks why I went to college when I was doing so well, but everyone makes their own decisions."
   Results of other finals in the National 30 Indoor Championships:
   Men's doubles -- Junaid Hossain, Sacramento, and Zaher (4) def. Amine Khaldi, Courtland, and Martin Rothfels (3), Gold River, 6-2, 6-2.
   Women's doubles -- Isabella Kling, Orangevale, and Wilson (2) def. Marisue Jacutin-Mariona, Los Altos, and Tedjakusuma (1), 7-6 (8), 1-6, 6-3.
   Mixed doubles --  Khaldi and Wilson (1) def. Elizabeth Seiverling, Portland, Ore., and Zaher, 7-6 (3), 6-3.