Klimchock, 18, Wins La Jolla Tennis Title : Unseeded Arizona State Freshman Beats Top-Seeded Woman in 2 Sets

Experience meant nothing against youth and confidence Sunday in the women’s open singles finals at the 73rd Robins Group La Jolla Tennis Championships.

Unseeded Luann Klimchock, an 18-year-old freshman at Arizona State University, won almost every big point, including five in a row to end the match, in beating 27-year-old and No. 1 seeded Lisa Seemann of Solvang, 6-3, 7-6.

In the men’s open finals, 23-year-old Scott Patridge of La Jolla defeated 30-year-old Jack Kruger of La Jolla, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

The match and the second set appeared to be slipping away from Klimchock, who graduated from high school in Tempe, Ariz., a semester early to attend Arizona State, as she faced three set points in the tiebreaker. But Klimchock surprised Seemann, who played at UC Santa Barbara from 1981-85, with her aggressive play.

Klimchock, named to the West team for the U.S. Olympic Festival in Oklahoma this month, hit two forehand volley winners and a deep serve which Seemann hit into the net, to tie the score, 6-6. She then hit a backhand passing shot up the line and another deep, unreturnable serve to close out the match.

Strangely enough, Klimchock said she never felt threatened.

“I felt good about my game the whole week,” she said. “I had nothing to lose. I won the big points. I tried not to think about them--just play.”

Klimchock said her volleying was the difference in the tiebreaker.

“There were a few balls where I could (have) let them drop, but I caught them in the air and caught her off guard,” said Klimchock, whose father, Lou, played baseball with Cleveland, Kansas City, the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers.

Meanwhile, Patridge’s power game proved to be too strong for the charging and slicing game of Kruger.

“I’m not used to playing against a guy that hits the ball that hard,” said the fourth-seeded Kruger, who is playing his first singles tournament in two years. “He was keeping pressure on my serve by hitting low returns and I wasn’t doing enough with his serve.”

Second-seeded Patridge, who played at USD, said his plan was to hit the ball with as much speed as possible.

“I figured that’s how I would keep Jack off his game and off the net,” Patridge said.