COLLEGE TENNIS : Collantes Defeats Willens for Title

Paloma Collantes concluded a week in which she had to overcome a root canal, a fever in excess of 100 degrees, a back injury and having to play almost two matches on a windy Sunday by defeating Heather Willens, 6-4, 6-3, in the final of the Riviera All-American Tennis Championship at Riviera Tennis Club.

Collantes, a Peruvian who is a sophomore at Mississippi, began the day by completing a 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 semifinal victory over North Carolina’s Cinda Gurney. Gurney had led, 2-0, Saturday before the match was interrupted by rain.

More than two hours later Sunday, a tired Collantes returned to the court, facing Willens, a Stanford junior who had won the 1987 and 1988 City Section singles champion while attending Palisades High.

Collantes and Willens each recorded two service breaks in the first five games before remaining on serve until the 10th game, when Collantes’ break-point forehand hit the net cord and bounced over for a winner.

In the second set, Collantes and Willens broke serve twice in the first seven games, and Willens double-faulted at break point in the eighth game. Collantes closed out the match by holding serve in the ninth game.

Collantes said her ailments forced her to increase her concentration.

“I had to be upbeat all the time, because (when you’re hurting) you can’t afford to lose dumb points, because you won’t have the energy to get back in the match,” said Collantes, who was seeded fifth and is ranked seventh on the preseason Volvo Tennis/Collegiate Rankings.

Willens said she was limited by fatigue.

“I felt like I didn’t have anything left physically,” said Willens, who was seeded eighth and had upset California’s Lisa Albano in the quarterfinals.