Southern California Men’s Tennis Championship : UC Irvine’s Mark Kaplan Moves Up to the Top

It wasn’t as though UC Irvine’s Mark Kaplan had problems hitting the tennis ball in the early part of his championship match against Kip Brady.

He just wasn’t hitting it in the court.

Brady saw the opportunity and took advantage, winning the first five games. It looked as if it would be an easy match for the sophomore from UC Santa Barbara.

Then, just as quickly, Kaplan’s forehand underwent a transformation. He started running Brady around the court and began hitting outright winners--down the line and crosscourt. Kaplan won 8 of the next 9 games on his way to a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory Sunday in the final of the Rolex/ITCA Southern California men’s tennis championships at UCI.

“When I was down 5-0, I just wanted to win a game,” Kaplan said. “I knew it had to click. He had to start making some mistakes.”

Last season, Brady beat one of Kaplan’s Irvine teammates, Bruce Man Son Hing, in a dual match, 6-2, 6-3. Man Son Hing, now striving for computer points on the satellite tour, was one of the top collegiate players in the nation when he was with the Anteaters.

“That was also on my mind,” said Kaplan, who was unseeded in this tournament. “I wasn’t sure I’d win a game.”

Now, the sophomore has a title and a trip to the national indoor championship at Houston in February. Man Son Hing, who lost in two ITCA regional finals, never accomplished that.

“I always looked up to him (Bruce),” Kaplan said. “During my matches, I’d always say, ‘How would he play this point?’ ”

Said Irvine Coach Greg Patton: “Mark had a bad tournament when he lost early at the All-American tournament earlier this fall. But when the bullies mug him, he’s the type of kid who will try to find out where the bullies live. He’ll spit in their eye and make them try to beat him again.”

All but one of Kaplan’s matches this week went three sets. In the quarterfinals, he beat his teammate and doubles partner, Trevor Kronemann, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4. Then, Kaplan defeated Arizona’s Paul Landry, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, in the semifinals.

Today, Kaplan and Kronemann will play for the tournament doubles title in an all-Anteater matchup against the team of Julian Barham and Darren Yates.

Brady entered Sunday’s singles final without having lost a set. Brady, who was unseeded, defeated top-seeded and defending champion Robby Weiss of Pepperdine en route to his meeting with Kaplan.

He finally lost a set against Kaplan, who closed out a 6-1 second-set victory with an ace. Kaplan also won the third set and the match on an ace.

And Kaplan needed it because Brady was in the midst of his own comeback.

Down 1-5 in the third, Brady won the next three games, fighting off two match points with passing shots down the line. Kaplan squandered two more match points in the 10th game before winning it on his fifth match point.

“I knew I had to serve an ace on the last point because there was no way I was going to stay on the baseline,” Kaplan said. “I had to make the play.”

Patton never thought he’d have a such capable replacement for Man Son Hing so quickly.

“Every time we lose a big gun, though, there’s always another to fill his place,” he said. “But I felt Mark was still a few months away. I was concerned about his confidence after the All-American tournament.”

Man Son Hing arrived at UCI after having learned how to play tennis in the parks of the West Indies island of Grenada. Kaplan’s route to Irvine wasn’t conventional, either.

He came to Southern California via South Africa. Kaplan’s aunt lived in Irvine and told her nephew there was a school down the street he might be interested in attending after he finished his juniors career in South Africa.

Kaplan, ranked No. 2 in boys’ singles in South Africa, strolled up to Patton during a dual match in the spring of 1984 and expressed his interest in the program.

“I know of almost every junior player in Southern California, and I didn’t know who this kid was,” Patton recalled. “And I asked him what high school he went to. I hadn’t heard of it, and so I started giving him the line about maybe looking into the junior colleges.”

And Kaplan began reeling off his resume: Wimbledon juniors, French Open juniors, scholarship offers from SMU, Trinity and Texas A&M.;

Patton couldn’t believe what had been dropped in his lap.

“I didn’t even have to recruit him,” Patton said, laughing.

And he was still laughing Sunday.

“Everybody’s always thought we’re a rich program, but this year people moved us out of the high-rent district into the housing tracts with the union workers,” Patton said.

Thanks to Kaplan, however, the Anteaters’ standard of living has returned to past standards.