City Titlist Raised Game

There were challenges on several fronts for tennis player Nima Roshan in his quest to become the City Section singles champion.

The Granada Hills High junior needed to maintain a high level of play throughout the five-round City individual tournament to overcome several top-notch players, including some he had struggled against in the past.

He also had to get through a debate, which he lost, over the score in the final, and learn to listen to his coaches and instincts to find success.

But Roshan did it all, channeling his emotions and his talent to claim the championship and recognition as The Times’ Valley/Ventura County boys’ player of the year.

“I always wanted to win this tournament,” Roshan said. “I’ve been working extra hard this year to become the best player I can be.”

The payoff has been a slow but steady rise in confidence, poise and maturity, as well as improved conditioning, strength and explosiveness that all contributed to Roshan’s late-season surge.

“It was all a matter of harnessing,” Coach Ron Wood of Granada Hills said.

Roshan, 16, who was born in the United States but spent 12 years living in Australia before returning in 1997, agreed.

“I have a good foundation, but I needed to have a complete game in order to win something like this,” he said. “It helps my confidence and keeps me going because it lets me know I’m doing the right things.”

Besides practicing at Granada Hills each day, Roshan works out two or three times a week at Cal State Northridge with private coach Craig Cignarelli.

Their focus has been on improving the 5-foot-11, 150-pound Roshan’s footwork and conditioning.

“His goal is to become a professional tennis player,” Cignarelli said. “He has a ways to go, but he’s doing everything he can at this point to achieve that.”

Said Roshan, “I had big goals for the future. It’s something that’s always been there, but I think now I’m starting to understand it a little more.”

Roshan considers this season a big step.

“This is kind of a reward for all the hard work,” he said. “This is when it counts, when you can actually apply the things you’ve been working on so hard.”

In Roshan’s case, the work in progress includes constant reminders and discussions about how best to handle adversity, and himself.

“You’ve got to learn how to channel your emotions in a positive manner,” he said. “I’m getting much better at playing through adversity.”

He demonstrated that in the City individual championship match.

The No. 6-seeded Roshan upset top-seeded Matt Jones of El Camino Real, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, after surviving a second-set controversy over the score. Jones had beaten Roshan in three consecutive meetings, including the quarterfinals last year.

After winning the first set, Roshan believed he led the second set, 4-2. However, a U.S. Tennis Assn. official announced the score as 3-3. Roshan pleaded his case, but to no avail, and Jones promptly broke for a 4-3 edge and went on to win the set.

A rattled Roshan gathered himself and took a 4-1 lead in the decisive third set.

“I the past, something like that would have destroyed Nima,” Wood said. “To be candid, every match, he just amazed me. His serve was on, his shots were good, and he was able to stay focused.”

Roshan, 25-4 in sets this season, used his improved conditioning to outlast each of his last three opponents. He rallied to upset defending City champion and No. 2-seeded James Magsino of El Camino Real, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, in the semifinals, after Magsino had beaten him twice during the season.

Roshan also knocked off No. 3-seeded David Keyes of University, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 6-0, in the quarterfinals, after Keyes had routed Roshan, 6-0, 6-0, in a USTA tournament in April.

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ALL-REGION BOYS’ TENNIS TEAM

FIRST TEAM

Singles

Player of the year

*--*

Player School Year Nima Roshan Granada Hills Junior

*--*

*

*--*

Player School Year Stephen Amritraj Crespi Junior

*--*

Amritraj won the Mission League singles title for the second consecutive season and reached the semifinals of the Ojai tournament in April and the quarterfinals of the Southern Section individual tournament last month. He helped Crespi to the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division V team playoffs. Amritraj did not begin playing high school matches until midseason because he was on a International Tennis Federation tour of Asia and England.

*

*--*

Player School Year Jesse Ferlianto Harvard-Westlake Junior

*--*

Ferlianto, the Mission League singles runner-up to Amritraj, advanced to the round of the 16 in the Southern Section individual tournament before losing to Chris Surapol of Whitney. He was 29-8 in sets, leading Harvard-Westlake (16-5) to a 12-0 league season and the semifinals of the Southern Section Division V playoffs.

*

*--*

Player School Year Matt Jones El Camino Real Senior

*--*

Jones was City Section singles runner-up to Nima Roshan of Granada Hills. Jones was 44-0 in sets during the regular season and team playoffs, and lost only five games in 16 round-robin sets in four playoff matches. He led the Conquistadores to a 17-0 record and their second consecutive City title, finishing 55-2 in sets.

*

*--*

Player School Year Robert Yim Glendale Soph.

*--*

Yim was 42-0 at No. 1 singles for Glendale and won the Pacific League singles title for the second consecutive season. He advanced to the quarterfinals in the Ojai tournament.

*

Doubles

*--*

Player, year/Player, year School Philip Sheng, Senior/Andrew Lieu, Junior Thousand Oaks

*--*

The Stanford-bound Sheng and Lieu advanced farther than any doubles team from the region in the Southern Section individual tournament, losing in the final to Brian Morton and Garrett Snyder of Corona del Mar. Sheng and Lieu, Marmonte League co-most valuable players and doubles champions, were 18-3 in sets.

*

*--*

Player, year/Player, year School Shaun Flynn, Senior/Nick Kogan, Soph. El Camino Real

*--*

Flynn and Kogan were 47-6 in sets, including 12-0 in the team playoffs to help the Conquistadores to their second consecutive City Section title. El Camino Real’s No. 1 doubles team placed third in the City individual tournament.

*

*--*

Player, year/Player, year School Jackson Ellis, Soph./Alex Sundling, Soph. Westlake

*--*

Ellis and Sundling were 41-1 in sets, helping the Warriors (19-1) reach a Southern Section team final for the fifth consecutive season. Their only loss came during Westlake’s 14-4 loss to Beverly Hills in the Division III title match.

SECOND TEAM

Singles

*--*

Player School Year Aaron Bert Westlake Junior Adam Davidson Hart Senior Jason Mossembekker Camarillo Soph. Tim Mullane Agoura Senior

*--*

*

Doubles

*--*

Player, year/Player, year School Anand Murthy, Senior/Brad Steinberg, Junior Granada Hills Tony Topsakalyan, Senior/Jay Sim, Senior Glendale Kevin Jiang, Senior/Khai Nguyen, Junior Rio Mesa

*--*