Ojai Tennis : The Winner Is Garrow, Not Farrow

They rank the top 100 collegiate tennis players in the nation, but you won’t find UCLA sophomore Brian Garrow listed there, even with the kids from Ball State, Kansas and Houston Baptist.

To compound the problem, Garrow has a bit of an indentity crisis on his own team. The No. 1 singles player for the Bruins is Buff Farrow. So, not surprisingly, people often confuse the issue. Even when Garrow defeated Farrow in Saturday’s Pacific 10 singles semifinal here not everyone got it right.

“I read on the results page in the newspaper that Farrow beat Garrow,” Garrow said. “That got me fired up.”

Garrow took matters into his own hands, making sure everyone got it right, as he did little wrong in beating Stanford sophomore Jeff Tarango, 6-2, 6-3, in the Pac-10 singles final Sunday at the 89th Ojai Valley tournament.

The victory was a culmination of an outstanding four days of tennis for Garrow. He rallied from a 5-1 third-set deficit in his quarterfinal match against USC’s Byron Black on Friday. Saturday was the straight-set win over Farrow. And, finally, the unexpectedly easy match against the No. 6-ranked Tarango.

All this was achieved despite a sore right knee. Garrow has suffered from tendinitis this season and it hampered him against Tarango. UCLA Coach Glenn Bassett suggested the possibility of defaulting, but Garrow wasn’t listening.

“I had a lot of extra incentive here because I figured this was my only shot at making the NCAA (individual) tournament,” Garrow said. “I have a good dual-match record but that wouldn’t have been enough.”

Tarango, who played for Mira Costa High School, admitted he wasn’t “mentally there” against Garrow as he let things like ball boys and the crowd movement bother him.

“I came out wanting to do one thing and when I saw he was having problems, I tried to do something else,” Tarango said. “I should have stuck to my original game plan.”

In the Pac-10 women’s singles final, Stanford sophomore Lisa Green had a considerably easier match with UCLA freshman Stella Sampras, winning, 6-3, 6-4, than she did in the semifinals against teammate Teri Whitlinger earlier in the day.

Green, who reached the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. individual semifinals in 1987, was down, 0-2, in the third set before she rallied to beat Whitlinger, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. In the other semifinal, Sampras beat Kay Tittle of Stanford, 6-0, 6-1.

But, in the final, it seemed as though Sampras had the tougher semifinal as she kept making unforced errors with her backhand.

“I’m definitely playing much better than last year,” said Green, who is No. 12 in the collegiate rankings. “I’ve improved my serve, even though it wasn’t going well today.”

Sampras, whose younger brother, Pete, recently turned pro, has played No. 5 and No. 6 singles for the Bruins this season. She felt Green had an edge in the baseline rallies, especially when Sampras hit the ball with a lot of pace.

“It’s hard to tell where she’s going to hit the ball,” said Sampras, a resident of Rancho Palos Verdes. “She plays the same way I do. I think she likes playing hard hitters.”