SENIOR TENNIS : It’s No Tall Tale as Gomez’s Serve Defeats Kriek in Final

At 35, Andres Gomez of Ecuador is the spry new guy on the Champions Tour. At 6 feet 4, he’s also one of the tallest. Thus, when he found himself in Sunday’s final against 37-year-old Johan Kriek, who is 5-9, it was little wonder that his superior serve ruled the day.

Gomez needed only 73 minutes to beat Kriek, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1), at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

His serve was not overwhelming--he had seven aces--but it was well disguised and well placed and usually made it in the service box. Kriek’s downfall was accuracy. He got in only 42% of his first serves and had six double faults.

Without a deep first serve to follow to the net, Kriek was obliged to either stay on the baseline to deal with a pounced-upon return or, as he did in the second set, come in off a second serve.

Only Kriek’s exceptional speed bailed him out of some ill-conceived net rushes.

“I think the serve was the whole difference today,” Gomez said.

It was the first final in the tour’s three-year history that didn’t include Jimmy Connors. Tour regular Kriek was in his fifth final and Gomez, in his first year on the 35-and-over tour, won his first title and $40,000.

Gomez and Kriek acknowledged the appalling number of unforced errors during the match but said they were the natural consequence of two big hitters going for their shots.

Actually, neither Kriek nor Gomez is a big hitter and neither was aiming for the lines. Kriek’s errors came from over-hitting and Gomez’s loose, wristy strokes are as unreliable as they are unreadable.

A crowd of 2,672 saw Gomez hold serve to open the first set, after which Kriek began his first service game with two double faults.

With his opponent’s left-handed serve causing him problems, the South African was never able to gain a break point against Gomez in the first set. Gomez held two break points in the 10th game. Kriek staved off the first, but Gomez capitalized on the second to win the set.

Kriek got his first, and only, break point in the fifth game of the second set, but Gomez held on an ace and took a 3-2 lead.

The set stayed on serve to force a tiebreaker, which Gomez dominated, beginning with an ace on the first point.