All-American Tennis : Reneberg Beats DeVries in Final

Richey Reneberg of SMU is the No. 1-ranked player in college tennis. To attain that status, he defeated defending champion Steve DeVries of Cal, 6-4, 6-4, in the final of the Volvo/All-American Tennis Championships at UCLA’s L.A. Tennis Center.

But if Reneberg had played as well last May as he did Sunday, there is a good possibility things might have turned out differently in the 1986 National Collegiate Athletic Assn. final.

He might have had an NCAA championship trophy to polish back home in Houston.

“I played much better today,” Reneberg said after beating DeVries. “I would have loved to had my game today back at the NCAAs.”

Back at the NCAA tournament, Reneberg found himself matched against Stanford’s Dan Goldie in the men’s singles final. He also found himself overmatched--losing in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.

But that was then and this is now. Reneberg didn’t dwell on the might-have-beens at this tournament. Only one player, Kenny Thorne of Georgia Tech, was able to take a set from Reneberg in five matches.

DeVries, in contrast, narrowly escaped elimination twice, needing third-set tiebreakers in the semifinals and quarterfinals. He had hoped the poise-under-pressure factor might help him against Reneberg.

“I was hoping it would work to my advantage because I had been in tight spots all week,” DeVries said.

It sounded logical, but Reneberg destroyed that logic by coming up with tough passing shots in pressure situations.

“I lost concentration in the middle of the second set,” Reneberg said. “But I felt I had enough confidence in my game to come up with the shots when I needed them.”

Reneberg needed those shots in the latter part of the second set. DeVries had broken his service to take a 4-2 lead. Then, Reneberg won three straight games to take a 5-4 lead.

In the final game, DeVries fought off a match point when Reneberg could barely reach a passing shot at the net. That made it 3-3 because there is no-ad scoring in college tennis.

Then, it was Reneberg’s second match point and DeVries’ game point. DeVries rushed the net on his serve but hit a half-volley into the net.

“I feel there is less pressure on me now because this is a big event,” Reneberg said. “After doing so well in the NCAAs, I think a lot of people expected good things out of me this year.

“I really did feel pressure coming into this week. That’s why I was so uptight earlier in the week because I hadn’t played in a tournament for a while.”

Last year, Reneberg lost to Irvine’s Bruce Man Son Hing, 1-6, 6-2, 6-3, in the second round of this event. And it was the second round that gave him trouble again this time. Reneberg felt lucky to still be in the tournament after having to rally from a one-set deficit against Thorne.

His game came together at 5-5 in the first set against Ville Jansson of Northeast Louisiana in the quarterfinals. After winning that set, Reneberg didn’t lose another game to Jansson.

“I think that second set against Jansson was one of the best of my life,” he said. “It gave me the confidence because I had felt I was really lucky to win the second match.”

It was Reneberg’s forehand that gave him problems earlier. He was pulling away with his shoulder, and his shots were sailing long. But Reneberg found the range against Jansson and never struggled after that match.

DeVries, who had served extremely well against Reneberg’s teammate, Stefan Kruger, in the semifinals, found the serve to be his downfall Sunday. He had problems getting his first serve in, and Reneberg took advantage of his second.

“At 3-4 in the second, I came in on the first three points,” Reneberg said. “It seemed to work well because he didn’t serve very well. After I did it a couple of times, it seemed to intimidate him.”

Tennis Notes

The announced attendance at Sunday’s final was 2,500, but the crowd in the seats at the L.A. Tennis Center looked more like 800. . . . The second-seeded team of Byron Talbot and Shelby Cannon of Tennessee defeated Kentucky’s Greg Van Embergh and Rick Benson, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, in the doubles final. Van Embergh and Benson were unseeded. . . . DeVries was attempting to become the first player in the eight-year history of the tournament to win two singles titles. His coach, Scott McCain, won the All-American championship in 1979 when he played for Cal.