Quality Doubles Play, Stanford Duo Take Chill Off Weather

The conditions weren’t the greatest--temperatures in the low 50’s, mixed with rain and biting winds--but the quality of tennis at the 101st Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championship more than made up for mother nature’s grouchy mood.

Stanford University freshmen Jonathon Stark and Jared Palmer carried the most impressive credentials into the tournament as the reigning Wimbledon and U.S. Open junior doubles champions. And although they did nothing to stain their reputations Sunday, it was not easy.

It took Stark and Palmer, who have played together for three years, more than 2 1/2 hours to put away USC’s second-seeded team of Byron Black and Kent Seton, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). Black teamed with Eric Amend of USC to win the NCAA doubles championship last year.

Two hours after beating Black and Seton, Stark and Palmer, seeded third, defeated Cal Berkeley’s No. 1 seeded team of Matt Lucena and Bent Pederson, 6-4, 7-5, in the finals of the 64-team tournament at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.

And within 30 minutes, Stark and Palmer were on a plane back to Palo Alto. Before leaving, Stark, last year’s U.S. Open Junior singles champion, gave a quick analysis of the final’s match.

“We returned really well,” said Stark, who is equipped with a wicked forehand and an even more lethal two-handed backhand. “They couldn’t seem to hold their serves against us.”

Stark, already ranked as the NCAA’s No. 2 singles player, was observant. He, along with his teammate, broke Lucena’s serve twice and Pederson’s once.

“It was a little hard to serve because of the wind, and I was a little tired,” said Lucena, a sophomore.

Although they were seeded first, Lucena and Pederson, a junior from Oslo, Norway, had never played together before this weekend. Lucena’s usual partner, Doug Eisenman, withdrew because of an injury.

“Those guys (Palmer and Stark) are really good players,” Lucena said. “I guess for not having played together, we played pretty well.”

Depending on the seriousness of Eisenman’s injury the two teams could meet each other in the regular season and the Pac-10 championships in Ojai.

To reach the finals, Lucena and Pederson defeated fourth-seeded Jon Leach of Laguna Beach and Chris Dunk of Newport Beach, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.

In the consolation finals, San Diego State’s Dana Gill and Kerry Safdie were beaten by West Virginia’s Rick Jacob and Ron Mercer, 6-4, 6-4.