Rettenmaier’s Fast Start Results in Boys’ 16-Under Title

The much-anticipated match between Ryan Redondo and Travis Rettenmaier was a study in contrasts.

Rettenmaier brought a consistent game.

Redondo did not.

So Rettenmaier won in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6 (9-7), to take the boys’ 16-and-under singles title at the Ojai Valley tennis tournament on Saturday.

Both players are nationally ranked and highly regarded. They had met a dozen or so times in the past, with the results about even. As the top two seeds in their division, they were expected to reach the final.

“We knew it was going to be him and me,” Rettenmaier, of Camarillo, said. “He got off to a bad start and I got off to a fast start.”

Rettenmaier hit steady ground strokes and rarely double-faulted. Meanwhile, Redondo was missing first serves and punching ferocious ground strokes into the net.

“He was hitting balls hard,” Rettenmaier said. “I was like, ‘What are you doing?’ ”

Redondo explained: “I was just playing terrible.”

The large crowd was squarely behind Redondo, whose family moved to Ojai last year. He made a brief run, coming back from 4-1 down in the second set, but it was too late.

“It just wasn’t my day,” he said.

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Ania Bleszynski of Stanford had her unexpected run through the Pac-10 women’s draw come to an end with a 7-6 (7-0), 4-6, 6-3 semifinal loss to UCLA’s Annica Cooper.

In a streaky match between two big servers, Bleszynski raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set.

But then, she said, “I definitely lost focus a few times. I let up and I let her get back into the match.”

As her team’s No. 4 player, Bleszynski needed an impressive showing to earn her way into the upcoming NCAA individual championship. She got some crucial wins, including a first-round victory over Arizona star Vicky Maes.

“She deserves to be there,” Coach Frank Brennan said. “But it’s going to be tight.”

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Calabasas High junior Shervin Saedinia found herself in a familiar position: in the final of the girls’ 18-and-under division.

But Saedinia, who has a victory and a runner-up finish in tournaments this year, couldn’t overcome a strained muscle in her arm and lost, 6-1, 6-3, to Bernadette Bayani of Simi Valley.

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In other matches, Bleszynski and Julie Scott reached the final of the Pac-10 women’s doubles with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Celena McCoury and Alison Nash of Arizona State. They will face Stephanie Lansdorp and Katy Propstra of Arizona State today.

Bob and Mike Bryan defeated Matt Breen and Jean-Noel Grinda of UCLA, 6-3, 6-2, and will face USC’s George Bastl and Kyle Spencer in the men’s doubles championship.

Steve Tallakson of Oak View defeated Chris Ganz of Huntington Beach, 6-3, 6-2, in a men’s open semifinal. Mark Ellis of Agoura defeated Troy Collins of Gardenia, 6-1, 6-2. Tallakson and Ellis will play in the final today.

In the semifinals of the men’s community college division, Ilian Iankov of Ventura College defeated Juan Cerda of College of the Desert, 6-2, 6-4.