NCAA TENNIS : Woodruff Serves His Way to Title

A strong serve gave Chris Woodruff a quick victory in the singles finals of the NCAA men’s tennis championships Sunday at Athens, Ga.

The top-seeded Tennessee sophomore opened the match with the first of his seven aces, put 72% of his first serves into play and never had his serve broken in a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Wade McGuire of Georgia in 1 hour 12 minutes.

“I kept him pinned back better than the last time we met,” said Woodruff, referring to McGuire’s 6-0, 6-2 victory April 24. “I came out focused and ready to play (Sunday.) I think Wade may have rushed a bit, hitting the ball off the rim. That could have been (because of) a lack of concentration.”

Woodruff faced his only break point in the seventh game of the first set and won three consecutive points. He then broke McGuire in the eighth game to take command.

“That was the key game of the match,” said McGuire, a senior who was seeded fourth and lost in the final for the second consecutive year. “I let a ball go at deuce and that was a big mistake on my part.”

In the doubles final, Florida’s David Blair and Mark Merklein ended California’s dominance of the event with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Chris Cocotos and Michael Flanagan of Stanford. California schools had won nine consecutive doubles championships.