Top Two Seeded Players Beaten in Boys’ 12 Semifinals

Justin Gimelstob figured that sooner or later, it would end. It just had to.

He had taken a 5-0 lead in the first set against top-seeded Blake McMeans in the semifinals of the Boys’ 12 U.S. Tennis Assn. National Championships at Morely Field. But then Gimelstob helplessly watched as McMeans rocketed shots by him to pull within 5-4.

“He just started hitting shots I couldn’t believe,” said Gimelstob, who is seeded third. “He couldn’t keep it up like that. Nobody can keep it up like that.”

McMeans’ torrid comeback finally fizzled, and Gimelstob went on to win, 6-4, 6-1, to reach today’s 11:30 a.m. final against No. 4 Matthew Wright. Wright defeated No. 2 Ryan Wolters, 6-4, 7-6.

Gimelstob, from Great Falls, N.J., knocked off McMeans by being patient and smart. McMeans, a bigger player from Knoxville, Tenn., relied on his power game.

Gimelstob effectively moved McMeans around the court, not letting him get into a groove where he could comfortably blast the ball. The strategy worked until McMeans hit his stride after trailing, 5-0. McMeans allowed Gimelstob just two points in the next three games and led 40-15 in the fourth before closing it out to trail, 5-4.

Gimelstob looked tentative during McMeans’ run but then regrouped and again began mixing his shots and moving McMeans around the court to close out the set, 6-4.

Gimelstob had little trouble in the second set, breaking McMeans four times and not allowing him a point until the third game. McMeans broke to trail, 3-1, and looked as if he was going to go on another tear. But Gimelstob held him off by winning four consecutive points after behind down 15-love in the fifth game.

“At 3-1 he started doing it again,” Gimelstob said. “I thought ‘I don’t want this to happen again.’

“You just hope it ends before you shake hands.”

Gimelstob will see a familiar face in today’s finals. Wright defeated him in the consolation rounds at last year’s tournament when both were 11.

Wright, who is from Wichita, Kan., has yet to lose a set of singles in the tournament. He had not lost more than four games in a match before the semifinals, although he came close to going three sets against Wolters, who is from San Jose.

Wright held on to win the first set, 6-4, after taking a 5-1 lead, then rallied from 3-4 to win the second set on a tiebreaker.

Wright was receiving for match point at 6-5 but missed an easy overhead. Wolters did not give up a point on his serve in the 12th game and pulled even at 6-6.

Wright was total control of the tiebreaker, winning the first four points and coasting to a 7-1 victory.

“I was nervous (going into the tiebreaker),” Wright said. “I thought to myself ‘how bad do I really want it?’

“I usually play well in tiebreakers, that’s probably the best part of my game because I want it so bad.”

Gimelstob and Wright will be doing double duty today; both reached the doubles final. Gimelstob and Jan Michael Gambill of Spokane, Wash., seeded third, will play No. 1 Wright and McMeans an hour after the singles final.