©Colette Lewis 2008--
Carson, CA--
The clouds and chill that were prevalent all week at the Home Depot Center couldn't cool off two red-hot U.S. juniors, as Melanie Oudin and Bradley Klahn posted straight-set victories in the finals of the International Spring Championships. Number one seed Oudin topped unseeded Jacqueline Cako 6-3, 6-3, and moments later, Klahn, the second seed, finished off No. 5 seed Jarmere Jenkins 6-1, 7-6 (1).
Oudin had beaten Cako 6-0, 6-0 in their only previous meeting last fall, but Oudin recognized that she was facing a much more difficult task Sunday morning.
"I think she's playing better than she was," said Oudin, who is expected to move up to the No. 2 position in the world junior rankings with the win. "And I don't think I played as well as I did last time."
Oudin took a 4-1, two-break lead in the first set, but Cako didn't change her game plan, which was to try to finish at the net.
"My net game is what sets me apart from people," said Cako, who like Oudin is 16. "I like to use that as pressure. I liked my strategy, but there were a few loose errors in there that I could have gotten rid of."
Cako broke Oudin and held to bring it back to 4-3, but when Oudin was able to engage her in a ground stroke rally, it was Cako who often missed first, and those errors led to Oudin breaking at 3-5. In the second set, there was no early break for Oudin, and she had to fight off two break points at 1-1 to stay in front.
"In the second, she served really, really well so it was hard to break her," Oudin said. "She definitely put pressure on me by getting into the net. But I played a good game at 4-3."
Oudin also benefited from a double fault and a net cord in that game, after Cako had taken a 30-0 lead, and suddenly Oudin was serving for match. After Cako hit a backhand wide on the first match point, Oudin had another Grade 1 singles title, her fourth since last September.
Bradley Klahn has also been impressive in the past four months, reaching a Grade 1 final in Australia, taking the USTA Spring National Championships doubles title in Mobile where he reached the singles final last month, and now claiming both singles and doubles championships in Carson.
"A good start to the year," admitted Klahn, who won both singles and doubles at the USTA Winter Nationals as well.
Against Jenkins, Klahn came out strongly, attempting to avoid a repeat of his semifinal against Borut Puc, who took the only set the future Stanford student lost all week to open the match.
"I got off to a pretty slow start yesterday, so I really wanted to get a fast start, play aggressive, jump on him really quickly and make him play from behind," said Klahn who lost his last encounter with Jenkins in the semifinals of the B1 in Tulsa last October.
Jenkins, who had an emotional win over roommate and friend Chase Buchanan in Saturday's semifinal, wasn't sharp in the first set, and was unable to put pressure on Klahn with his serve, which had been so effective against Buchanan.
"Bradley came out on fire, and I was a little bit nervous," said Jenkins. "My last finals haven't gone too well, and I kind of had that in my head going into the match."
The second set was more what everyone, including Klahn, expected, as the last two meetings between them had been long three-setters.
"I knew he was going to pick it up. He started relaxing more and he started serving a lot better, so I knew I was in for a tough second set," Klahn said.
With Jenkins serving first, and holding throughout the second, Klahn was under pressure every time he served, but Jenkins couldn't dent the left-hander, who didn't face a break point in the set and only one in the match.
"He served well," said Jenkins. "I didn't break him once the whole match. And those 25-ball rallies, I was like 'dang, when is he going to miss'?"
Jenkins is most effective when he is finishing at the net, but Klahn's consistent depth kept Jenkins behind the baseline more than he would have liked. In the tiebreaker, Jenkins reverted to the play he'd displayed in the opening set, while Klahn had no trouble maintaining his level, although he admitted to being nervous serving at 6-1 in the tiebreaker, even with five match points. But he finished with a flourish, cracking an ace at match point for his first Grade 1 singles title.
All four finalists are on their way to the Easter Bowl, the ITF Grade B1 event in Palm Springs, where play begins on Monday for the girls and Tuesday for the boys. For draws, see the TennisLink site.
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