Bryans Are a Smash With 4th Title in Row

OJAI — One word best describes the performance of Camarillo twins Mike and Bob Bryan in claiming their fourth title in a row in the Ojai Valley tennis tournament.

Smashing.

The Bryans, playing for Rio Mesa High in the boys’ interscholastic doubles division, defeated J.R. Chidley and Brett Masi of Riverside Poly, 6-2, 6-2.

Chidley and Masi briefly shook the Bryans with a rare service break against the U.S. Junior National team members in the second set, cutting a 3-0 deficit to 3-2.

But the Bryans put the exclamation point on the final Ojai match of their high school careers.

They won the sixth game at love to lead, 4-2, then broke Chidley’s serve. Leading, 15-0, in the final game, Bob hit a forehand smash then a backhand smash to make it 40-0, and Mike finished it with a resounding overhead smash.

“We’re always pumped to win Ojai,” Bob said, “because we usually play out of state and there’s not a lot of people pulling for us.”

But here the seniors bound for Stanford brought the house down. They drew a standing ovation as they ended their run of high school victories at 21-0 in matches and 42-0 in sets.

Joe DeVito, Ojai tournament president, said he will consider the four consecutive doubles titles a record until proved otherwise.

The Bryans also helped Rio Mesa win the team championship, ending the six-year reign of Santa Barbara.

Rio Mesa Coach Steve Worthington credited the twins for staying motivated. “You give them a challenge, stand back,” he said. “They’ll come busting through.”

In another final, Erin Carroll of Ventura used his serve-and-volley attack to defeat Chase Exon of Irvine, 7-5, 6-4, in boys’ 16 singles.

“Out of all the tournaments I’ve had this year, this is the one I wanted most,” Carroll said. “Today I don’t think I could have served any better.”

Zuzana Stunova of Camarillo and Nick Varvais of Simi Valley fell short in their bids to return to the finals.

Varvais, the defending champion in the boys’ interscholastic division and representing Royal High, was beaten by top-seeded Geoff Abrams of Newport Harbor, 6-1, 6-1.

Third-seeded Stunova, who had won eight consecutive sets by an average score of 6-2, was routed by Tu Dong of Long Beach, 6-3, 6-1, in girls’ 18 singles.

Stunova, who lost in the 1995 girls’ 16 final, said she was not disappointed.

“She overpowered me from the baseline,” said Stunova, 16, who also had trouble with Dong’s serves. “She had a nice game. The main difference is she’s a year older than me and she has more experience.”

In girls’ 18 doubles, Faye DeVera of Villa Park and Kristina Kraszewski beat Kerry Giardino of Palos Verdes and Shera Wiegler of Calabasas, 6-1, 6-3.