COLLEGE TENNIS : TCU’s Bujan Has a Happy Homecoming With Victory

This time, the ball bounced the right way for Tony Bujan, a former ballboy who won his first collegiate tournament Sunday, a 6-2, 6-1 victory over UCLA’s Mark Knowles in the National Collegiate Tennis Classic.

Bujan, a 20-year-old senior at Texas Christian, used to fetch balls at the NCTC for such players as Lawson Duncan, David Pate and Todd Witsken. All three are now pros, which is what Bujan wants to become.

The sooner the better, he said.

“I want to make some money,” Bujan said. “I got to start earning a living.”

It was something of a homecoming for Bujan, an Indio High graduate, who was not recruited by Southern California universities after beginning his tennis career late--he was 10. That isn’t early enough to establish a high U.S. Tennis Assn. ranking, so Bujan wound up at TCU after writing to TCU Coach Tut Bartzen.

“No one really knew who I was,” Bujan said. “Maybe they’ll start looking at me a little bit now.”

In the women’s final, Laxmi Poruri of Stanford defeated Mamie Ceniza of UCLA, 6-0, 6-3.

Poruri, a 19-year-old sophomore from Claremont who goes by the nickname “Popeye,” even though she is only 5 feet 6, was strong from start to finish, winning the first seven games.

The NCTC is an invitational tournament, the first major collegiate event of the tennis season, featuring players from eight top men’s and women’s teams.

Knowles, a 21-year-old junior from the Bahamas, is already ranked No. 275 in the pros after playing a series of Challenger events on the ATP Tour.

Against Bujan at Bono’s Racket Club, Knowles started quickly, but said he lost his concentration after a line call went against him during the third game of the first set. His angled forehand volley crosscourt hit the line, he said, but was called out instead.

“I got hooked,” Knowles said. “Nah, I just let it bother me and I shouldn’t have. . . . Mentally, inside, I got a little bit confused. I just had a bad match.”

While Knowles said he began slapping impatiently at the ball, Bujan stuck to his game plan of mixing up spins, speed and placement.

Bujan won 10 of the last 11 games and said he played the match of his life. Knowles, who had not lost a set before the final, quickly agreed.

“I don’t know if I could have beaten him on any other day the way he played,” Knowles said.