Tennis: Ojai championship for Michael Genender

Harvard-Westlake’s Michael Genender went out on top in playing his final match at the Ojai Tennis Tournament as a Junior player, defeating Corona del Mar’s Bjorn Hoffmann, 6-1, 6-4, in the CIF boys’ singles vhampionship of the 115^th edition of The Ojai at Libbey Park last weekend.

The Stanford-bound Genender, runner-up in the 2014 CIF boys’ singles division, rolled through the first set and raised his game to rally from 4-1 down in the second set and take the final five games of the match.

Upon winning, Genender was presented with the Farnam Cup – the oldest perpetual trophy awarded at The Ojai, dating back to 1902 – by 1964 Ojai Interscholastic singles champ and distinguished 2015 tournament honoree Stan Smith, the Pasadena native and USC standout who went on to win the 1971 U.S. Open and Wimbledon in 1972 and become No. 1 in the world.

Three of the CIF boys’ singles semifinalists were juniors – Hoffmann, Palos Verdes’ Brandon Holt and Los Alamitos’ Riley Smith – which sets the stage for a stellar 64-player high school singles competition at The Ojai in 2016.

Palm Desert High captured the CIF boys’ doubles crown as Bradley Cummins and Alex Kuperstein downed Point Loma’s Keegan Smith and Ivan Thamma, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3). It was the second consecutive year the Aztecs captured a title in the CIF Boys’ division after Austin Rapp beat Genender in the 2014 singles final.

The championship match results from the rest of the Juniors divisions follow:

Girls’ 18s Singles: Ryan Peus (Santa Barbara) d. Seira Shimizu (Ojai), 7-6, 6-7, 6-4.

Girls’ 18s Doubles: Madison Hale/Mattea Kilstofte (Santa Barbara) d. Kelsie Bryant (Carpinteria,)/Sophia Whittle (Nipomo), 6-4, 6-4.

Boys’ 16s Singles: Matthew Tsolakyan (Glendale) d. Connor Rapp (Rancho Mirage), 6-3, 6-3.

Girls’ 16s Singles: Alexa Ryngler (Calabasas) d. Rika Tanaka (Tokyo, Japan), 6-2, 6-2.

Boys’ 14s Singles: Miles Jones (Marina del Rey) d. Jacob Bullard (Calabasas), 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

Girls’ 14s Singles: Delanie Dunkle (Arroyo Grande) d. Hina Inoue (Huntington Beach), 6-3, 6-3.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer