Laguna Beach’s Talarico Tumbles in Finals

San Marino senior Andrew Park didn’t see the familiar face he was expecting in the Southern Section individual boys’ tennis finals, but it didn’t seem to bother him much. The top-seeded Park took care of Laguna Beach’s Aaron Talarico, 6-1, 6-2, in just more than an hour at the SeaCliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach to win a section title on his third trip to the final.

Park, the nation’s No. 1 player in boys’ 18s, didn’t play last year because he was in Europe for a junior tournament. He lost to Palm Desert senior Eni Ghidirmic as a freshman and Corona del Mar freshman Taylor Dent as a sophomore. This year, he figured to meet Servite’s Ryan Moore, his future USC teammate and he tournament’s second-seeded player. But Moore was upset in the first round.

Instead, Park played Talarico, who upset third-seeded Jose Lieberman of Beverly Hills, a top-15 player nationally. Talarico fell behind Lieberman, 5-2, then ran off 10 consecutive games to win, 7-5, 6-1.

“I watched a couple of his games and he looked like he was in a zone,” Park said. “I figured if I could ride it out and make him hit a few balls, I’d be OK.”

Park’s plan to run down everything and frustrate Talarico was not so much a strategy, but a way of life.

“That’s a big part of my game, making my opponent hit the extra ball and making him have that small margin of error,” he said. “I’m not that big, so that’s what I have to do.”

But Talarico learned that Park was more than just a grinder. He also has a little pop in his racket.

“He’s not going to back off and push with you,” Talarico said. “He’ll drill you too.”

Talarico tried drilling Park before Park drilled him, but he was off with his approach shots from the start--committing five unforced errors the first game after saving three break points.

“I was going for too much on my transition shots to get to the net and missing them by an inch or two,” Talarico said. “That could have changed things early.”

Park’s momentum was slowed briefly when Talarico broke his serve in the next game. But Park won the next eight games to take control of the match.

“It’s frustrating, but at the same time I kind of expected it,” Talarico said. “He is the No. 1 player in the nation.”

The most demoralizing point for Talarico came with Park leading, 4-2, in the second set and the score in the game tied at 30. Talarico hit a deep forehand that looked like a winner, but Park ran it down and hit a top-spin lob that landed five feet inside the baseline.

“I thought I was fast, but he’s faster,” Talarico said. “He’s like Michael Chang.”

Park said he could have played much better.

“I don’t think I was at the top of my game,” he said. “I was shanking a lot of groundstrokes and missing a lot of first serves. But I hung in there.”

Park was supposed to be in Paris this week for the Junior French Open but he didn’t enter in time, so decided to play a tournament he had never won.

“The third time’s the charm, I guess,” he said.

In the doubles final, Palos Verdes Peninsula’s second-seeded team of David Gleiberman and Mauric Yu defeated teammates Seamus and Tiege Sullivan, 7-5, 6-3. It was the first time two teams from the same school have met in the finals since 1977, when two Corona del Mar teams played.

Gleiberman and Yu beat Aliso Niguel’s Chris Kan and Jason Medwick in the semifinals, 7-6, 6-3. The Sullivans upset the top-seeded team of Eric Bachelor and Leandro D’Agostini of Mission Viejo, 6-4, 6-2, in the other semifinal.