Lareau Plays His Ace, Wins Title

After winning seven consecutive matches with a tenacious and entertaining brand of tennis, qualifier Michael Sell had the crowd on his side in the final of the Laguna Hills ATP Challenger. But Sunday, he needed a little luck on his side, and a little better serve.

He had neither and his opponent, eighth-seeded Sebastien Lareau, had both going for him and they were the difference in Lareau’s 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) victory at Nellie Gail Ranch Tennis Club in front of about 600.

Lareau, a 25-year-old from of Montreal, served 15 aces to Sell’s two and benefited from two net-courts, the biggest coming with Sell one point away from the winning a second-set tiebreaker. With Lareau trailing, 6-5, in the tiebreaker, he sliced a backhand return that hit the tape and plopped over the net.

“That was a little stake in the heart,” Sell said. “But he served a lot better and that was the story of the match.”

Lareau seemed a little embarrassed about getting such a timely break, but not embarrassed enough to give the point back.

“That was lucky,” Lareau said. “I hit a good return, but he would have had a good chance to play it had it gone over. It’s unfortunate a point like that happened, but I’m sure along the way in the qualifying he had to get a few of those too. They go both ways.”

The last time Sell and Lareau played, two years ago at a Challenger in Delray Beach, Fla., everything went Sell’s way as he won, 6-1, 6-2. Sell played well again Sunday, but he did not have any answers for Lareau’s powerful first serve and high-kicking second serve, which also netted him an ace.

“Luckily, I came out firing serves,” Lareau said, “Because I didn’t feel I was moving that well and I was making a lot of unforced errors. I don’t usually serve that well.”

Said Sell, 26, a four-time All-American at Georgia from 1992 to 1995: “I’m glad he saved that for me.”

Lareau had his serve broken only once--in the sixth game of the second set. But he quickly broke back the next game. Whenever Sell had Lareau in trouble in a service game, Lareau was able to come up with an ace or near ace. And whenever Sell seemed to be fading away, he was able to bring the crowd to its feet with a cross-court passing shot or running forehand down the line.

“Mike has such an expressive style of play and he hit some great shots,” Lareau said. “He deserved the crowd support.”

Sell’s big week should improve his ranking by nearly 100 spots on the ATP computer. He came in ranked 341st after being as high as 136th last March.

“I lost a lot of confidence last year,” said Sell, who won $4,270 for second place. “I think the pressure of defending all those points got to me. But this week really brought my confidence back.”

Meanwhile, Lareau will oddly enough drop from 91st after his victory. Last year at this time, Lareau earned 120 computer points by reaching the semifinals of the Philadelphia Indoors, a tournament that no longer exists. Sunday, Lareau earned $7,200 and 100 points for the winning the Laguna Hills Challenger.

In the doubles final, the unseeded American team of Paul Goldstein and Brian MacPhie defeated top-seeded Pablo Albano and Daniel Orsanic of Argentina, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Goldstein and MacPhie, who were given wild cards into the 16-team draw, split $3,100. Albano and Orsanic split $1,820.