Youth serves at Fallbrook open; locals fare well

The Fallbrook Open is an adult-level tennis tournament that is open to juniors as well as adults, and the 2010 tournament at the Fallbrook Tennis Club saw junior-level players dominate the open divisions.

Bonsall’s Hailey Johnson, who was an eleventh-grader at Oasis High School during the June 5-13 playing dates of the 36th Annual Fallbrook Open, won the Women’s Open Singles division while three junior-level players reached the semifinals. Johnson and Fallbrook High School girls coach Dave Ramirez won the Mixed Open Doubles division, and Fallbrook eleventh-grader David Doehring, who attends Julian Charter School, reached the finals of the Men’s Open Singles.

“We had a good junior showing,” said tournament organizer Dorothy Roth.

Nearly 300 participants played in various divisions at the tournament. “It was a really smooth, nice tournament, and we were very lucky with the weather,” Roth said.

Doehring lost to third-seeded Vladislav Molenda of Rancho Santa Margarita in the finals, 6-4, 0-6, 1-6. “It was good that David was able to get that far. And it was close. Three sets, you can’t get much closer than that,” Roth said.

The last junior to win the Men’s Open Division of the Fallbrook Open was Michael Chang in 1987.

The three junior-level players who reached the semifinals of the Women’s Open Singles competition included Johnson’s sister, Michaela, who spent her final weekend days as a Fallbrook High School senior playing in the tournament and lost a pair of 6-1 sets in the semifinals to 15-year-old Kylie Haviland of San Diego. Haviland, who reached the semifinals with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win in the quarterfinals over Fallbrook High School eleventh-grader Jessica Willett, pulled a stomach muscle during the tournament and withdrew after her semifinal win, thus defaulting the championship to Hailey Johnson.

Johnson reached the Women’s Open Singles finals with a 6-1, 6-1 semifinal win over Leslie Shuffleton of Palm Desert.

Johnson and Ramirez won the Mixed Open Doubles championship with a 6-3, 6-0 win in the finals over Julie Anna Chidley of Riverside and Gregory Gerken of San Diego.

Ramirez was also a winner in the Men’s Open Doubles division. Ramirez and 2002 Fallbrook High School graduate Daniel Andrus faced Valley Center’s Timothy Clark and San Diego’s Elias Scandalis in the finals, and won a pair of 6-2 sets to take the championship.

Andrus also won a second doubles championship at the 36th Annual Fallbrook Open. He teamed with his father, Dan, in the Father-Son Doubles division, and the two Fallbrook residents took a 6-2, 6-4 victory in the finals against Robert and Jordan Bryant of Temecula.

Adam Hopps of Escondido and his mother, Laurie (who lives in San Diego), took the Mixed 4.0 Doubles championship with a win in the finals over John Puga of Lomita and Cherie Van Wechel of Fallbrook. The first set was tied at six games apiece before Adam Hopps and Laurie Hopps took a 7-2 win in the tiebreaking game, and Adam Hopps and Laurie Hopps won the match with a 6-4 victory in the second set.

The Women’s 3.5 Doubles was played in round-robin competition with the Fallbrook duo of Stephanie Grondin and Jayne Miller earning the championship.

Bonsall’s Nancy Lusher was the Women’s 3.5 Singles winner; she faced Chris Richardson of Escondido in the finals and was on the winning end of a pair of 6-3 sets.

Fallbrook’s Ken and Lorna May won the Mixed 3.5 Doubles championship after defeating the Carlsbad duo of Florence Klein and Thomas Lopez in the finals. The Mays won the first set by a 6-1 score, and after the second set was tied at six games apiece the Mays won the set and match with a 7-2 victory in the tiebreaking game.

Fallbrook’s Valerie Garcia won the Women’s 4.0 Singles title with a 6-3, 6-0 win in the finals against Karen Alexander of Cathedral City. The Fallbrook duo of Brenda Fields and Michelle Hatch won the Women’s 4.0 Doubles championship with a 6-4, 6-1 win in the finals over Van Wechel and Temecula’s Vicki Anderson.

Fallbrook’s Fran White and Temecula’s William Pomerenke required three sets to win the Mixed 4.5 Doubles finals against John Gorman of Sun City and Anolay Roberts of Perris. The first set was tied at six games apiece before Gorman and Roberts won the tiebreaking game by a 7-1 score. White and Pomerenke evened the match with a 6-0 win in the second set and won the championship with a 6-2 triumph in the third set.

Aaron Coyle of Menifee was the Men’s 5.5 Singles champion. He faced Scott Harper of Fallbrook in the finals and won the match with 6-3 and 6-4 victories.

Proceeds from the Fallbrook Open are donated to the Boys and Girls Club of North County. A raffle and silent auction, whose donations included handmade quilts, helped augment the fundraising effort.

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