Dismal Day for Valley Players Ends With a Cramping Defeat

On a tough day for Valley region tennis players, Taft High’s Farhad Hajimirzaee had the toughest.

The unseeded senior, who cruised through the first three rounds of the City Section singles tournament, had his season come crashing to a halt Wednesday at MountainGate Country Club in a semifinal match against Dorsey senior LeGeorge Mauldin.

After splitting the first two sets and with the third set tied, 3-3, Hajimirzaee suffered cramps in both legs and in his right wrist after hitting a forehand winner to go up, 15-0, in the seventh game.

He took an allotted three-minute injury timeout after falling, then played and lost the next three points, suddenly displaying limited mobility and quickness.

Hajimirzaee, with his mother pleading with him to stop playing from outside the court, withdrew from the day’s best match, leaving Mauldin with a 7-5, 3-6, 3-3 (retired) victory.

“I couldn’t run to the balls,” Hajimirzaee said. “After I cramped up, I had to try and hit winners on every shot. All [Mauldin] had to do was make me run. It’s kind of disappointing because the match was so close. I still thought I could win.”

Hajimirzaee said although he has suffered cramps in the past, this was only the second time he had to retire from a match because of cramping pain.

“I don’t know why it happened,” said Hajimirzaee, who transferred from Glendale High before his junior year. “I had plenty of water.”

Hajimirzaee’s loss ended a day of disappointment for Valley players.

Frank Vlahovic of Verdugo Hills, the only player from a 3-A Division school left in the draw, squandered a 4-3 lead in the first set in a 6-4, 6-0 loss to top-seeded Artin Tafazoli of Palisades.

Granada Hills’ doubles team of Deepu Murthy and Matt Weiss lost to second-seeded Jung Cho and Joseph Kim of Palisades, 6-3, 6-2. Cho will attempt to win his third consecutive section doubles title with three different partners on Friday.

Top-seeded Ricky Rollins and Blake Baumgarten of Palisades won their semifinal, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, setting up the seventh all-Palisades doubles final in nine years.

The singles match between Vlahovic and Tafazoli became heated with Vlahovic leading, 4-3, in the first set.

When Tafazoli called a shot long, Vlahovic disagreed and argued. He appeared to lose his concentration, failing to win another game.

“I told [Vlahovic] the ball was out 10 times,” said Tafazoli, a section runner-up last year. “But he just stared at me and wanted to fight me on the court.”

Tafazoli, ranked No. 12 by the Southern California Tennis Assn., lost to teammate Danny Westerberg, ranked No. 8, in the City final last year.

Westerberg is not playing this year because he recently had ankle surgery. Westerberg and Tafazoli teamed up last month to win the CIF doubles division at the Ojai invitational tournament.