Top of His Game Isn’t Enough for Glass to Win in Semis : Tennis: Harmat advances to meet Santilli in finals of Grand Prix Masters Championships.

Luis Glass has played competitive tennis for 29 years. He has been a college All-American in singles and a nationally ranked age-group player in doubles. He’s played a lot of sets and worn out a lot of rackets.

But he says he’s never been better than now, at the age of 42.

And that’s why Glass couldn’t help but second-guess himself after his 6-3, 6-4 loss Saturday to Gabriel Harmat in the semifinals of the Grand Prix Masters Championships at the Rancho Bernardo Inn.

Harmat, of Woodland Hills, will face Art Santilli of Camarillo, a 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 winner over Rex Smith of Upland, in today’s final. Glass, a teaching pro at Point Loma Tennis Club, will play Smith for third place. Both matches will be at 10:30 a.m.

“I could have gone for more on my serve and volley and maybe given the opponent more credit for his speed and shot-making ability,” Glass said. “If I had, I might have buried him.”

Glass, one of his age group’s hardest servers who also has a strong backhand, has buried a lot of opponents this year. Of the 10 tournaments he had played going into the five-day Grand Prix, Glass had won six of them. Saturday’s loss was disappointing, particularly because Glass--a two-time Division III All-American at Hampton (Va.) Institute, felt he was playing his best tennis ever.

“I’m at the top of my game; I’m in tremendous shape,” he said. “Before, I was struggling even if the results were better. But I’ve been getting behind my shots and letting the other guy make mistakes. Today I was relaxed, playing within myself. I felt my first serves were going real well. But I was up in a couple of service games and I didn’t convert.

“I beat (Harmat) in the 35s, but he’s always incredibly conditioned. I felt it was a good match-up, and it kind of got down to shot-making ability.”

At which Harmat, a teaching pro at The Merchant of Tennis in Beverly Hills, seems the better. Harmat ousted Glass in the semis last year and blames the loss five years ago on poor vision that has been corrected. Harmat, a five-time national champion and former Davis Cup player for his native Israel, broke Glass’ second serve in the first set and led, 4-1, before closing it out. He continued to return the 6-foot-1, 200-pound Glass’ powerful serves, pinning them close to the lines, while exploiting Glass’ weaker forehand during rallies.

“I felt if I had one break in that set it would be all over, because if we went to a third set he wouldn’t have lasted,” Harmat said. “I think I kept him guessing. I felt I took his best shot away and I threw him off balance a bit that I played his forehand.”

“I kind of gave him the first set,” Glass said. “I was feeling it out. The next set I’m cooking, serving it in the corners, hitting some pretty good volleys.”

Then at 3-3, Glass is broken. He breaks back to 4-4, then gets broken again. But serving with a 5-4 lead, Harmat is trailing, 15-40, in danger of letting the match go to three sets. But he hits a backhand volley to tie it at deuce, then later Glass misses two service returns--putting one in the net and chipping the other long--to give Harmat the victory.

“It’s a disappointment because, for me, this is the biggest tournament of the year except for nationals,” Glass said. “But he came up with shots that weren’t the norm.”

Glass and Harmat both traveled west to get to Rancho Bernardo, but their routes were quite different. Since arriving from Israel 20 years ago, Harmat has become a tennis tutor to the stars. Among his students have been Johnny Carson, singer Perry Como, singer/actor Richard Harris and Jerry Weintraub, former president of United Artists.

Glass’ journey from the indoor courts of Jackson Heights, a suburb of New York City, provides testimony that Saturday’s defeat is not so big. He earned a scholarship in 1965 to UCLA, where he was 9-0 playing singles as a freshman.

By the end of that season he lost the scholarship and ended up in the Army serving in Vietnam. There he spent a year as medic, administering to wounded soldiers. He returned home, like most, confused.

“They used to call it the million-dollar ride when you got wounded and got to go back to the states,” he said. “To me, a million-dollar ride was not to get hit. When I got home, my mom was concerned about me. She put me right back into school. I found I could have a good time, be competitive, and if felt good to be in athletics again.

“There’s no score in war.”

Although he never graduated from Hampton Institute, he was twice named All-American in singles before following his family to San Diego. As a 14-year-old, Glass and his brother, Sidney, reached the quarterfinals of the national Juniors tournament and earned a top-10 ranking. Perhaps more impressive than his six tournament victories this year, Glass and Jim Lackritz, a San Diego State business professor, were semifinalists in the USTA National doubles tournament and earned a No. 3 ranking in the 40-45 division.

“We had a taste of the big time,” Glass said, “and we thrived on it.”

Only one other San Diego County player, Leland Housman, advanced to today’s finals. Housman, of San Diego, beat Tom Wire of Encino, 6-2, 6-2, and will face Dick Johnsrud of Riverside, a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Jess Torres of Alta Loma, today at 10:30 a.m.