Trear Can’t Beat Odds, Falls to Bujon at La Jolla

The odds were not in Anthony Trear’s favor. He was 11 years older than his opponent, Tony Bujon, and he hadn’t played a tournament in 2 1/2 years. Meanwhile, Bujon, 20, was in the prime of his tennis career and coming off a round of 16 performance at the NCAA’s in his hometown of Palm Desert.

For a short while, it looked like Trear, a resident of San Diego, might buck those odds as he led 4-1 in the first set. But reality and a thing called physical conditioning became a factor late in the first set and before long Bujon had swept away Trear, 7-5, 6-2, to win the men’s open finals Sunday at the 74th La Jolla Tennis Tournament at the La Jolla Tennis Club.

In the women’s open finals, University of San Diego’s Tonya Fuller broke San Diego State’s Dorey Brandt’s serve four consecutive times in the second set and went on to win, 6-4, 7-5.

Trear, who played college tennis at UCLA, began the match by winning 12 points in a row off his serve and by breaking in the fourth game.

“He started out playing well,” said Bujon, a junior at Texas Christian University. “I’m supposed to win these matches since I’m still in college. I was a little tight.”

But Bujon loosened up by holding his serve and then breaking Trear’s serve to make it 4-3. Trear had a game point, but he netted a forehand approach shot.

“The match seemed to turn after that,” Trear said.

It did. Trear was subsequently broken on five of the next six service games to fall behind 4-1 in the second set.

Trear said he began to feel the effects of his inactivity after the first set.

“I wasn’t physically up,” Trear said. ‘All the matches just caught up to me. That, combined with him hitting awesome shots.”

Bujon’s passing shots and volleys were just too much for Trear to handle. And when Bujon wasn’t at the net, he was chasing down Trear’s volleys for running forehand winners.

“I just started getting confident and swinging through the ball,” said Bujon, who was coming off a month layoff due to surgery on his ingrown toenails.

Fuller trailed in both sets, 4-3 in the first and 3-0 in the second. But each time she came back by attacking Brandt’s forehand.

“Any smart person’s going to play my forehand,” said Brandt, who was seeded fourth.

Fuller, seeded fifth, kept the ball in play and forced Brandt to make all the errors.

“That’s my game,” said Fuller, who has now beaten Brandt three consecutive times. “Keeping the ball in play is what won this tournament for me.”

It’s likely Brandt will have another shot at Fuller. Both will be seniors next year.