©Colette Lewis 2008--
Kalamazoo MI--
John Isner has won many tiebreakers, both in his collegiate career and as a professional, but he lost one Friday evening, when hometown favorite Scott Oudsema came back from a 5-1 deficit in the tiebreaker to defeat Isner 7-6(8) in the RxOptical Greenleaf Hospitality exhibition at Stowe Stadium.
Isner and Oudsema comfortably handled the No. 1 seeded 18s doubles team of Jarmere Jenkins and Austin Krajicek 6-3, in front of an estimated 2000 spectators, most of whom were supporting Oudsema, who remains the only player from Kalamazoo to ever reach the finals of the Nationals when he did so in 2004. Isner, the National 18s doubles champion with Pramod Dabir in 2003, also made fans during his years in Kalamazoo, and at the sponsors reception prior to the opening ceremonies, both spoke of their memories of Kalamazoo and their now-realized dreams of playing the exhibition.
Wearing his Georgia Bulldog baseball cap, Isner took the microphone to address the crowd after his introduction, and mentioned the professionals excellent record against the juniors in this annual challenge. "6-0 is the goal," he joked, and although he and Oudsema didn't approach that level of dominance, the serves of the 22-year-old Oudsema and 23-year-old Isner were ultimately too much for Jenkins and Krajicek. Oudsema was twice on the losing end of the exhibition as a junior--when he was part of the top seeded doubles team in 2003 with Phillip Simmonds and in 2004 with Brendan Evans--so he was pleased to finally get a win.
Once the singles set began, Oudsema got an early break but couldn't finish, with two net cords assisting Isner in breaking Oudsema when he was serving for the match at 5-4. In the tiebreaker, Oudsema started poorly, doublefaulted, and was down 5-1 at the change of ends, but worked it back to 5-4. Isner put the match on his racquet when he took advantage of his reach at the net to snare an Oudsema passing shot to go up 5-4, but Oudsema came up with a forehand winner, and back on serve, a difficult overhead smash to even it at 6-6. From there it was back and forth, with Isner finally hitting a forehand long to send the Kalamazoo fans home happy.
Isner, who is now working with Kelly Jones, is on his way to the ATP tournament in Los Angeles, while Oudsema will play the Challenger next week in Binghamton, New York. But both now have additional memories of Kalamazoo, with Oudsema's being especially satisfying ones.
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