Granada Hills Duo Gets Rolling

Anand Murthy and Brad Steinberg of Granada Hills High hope their 6-0, 6-0 doubles rout of Carson’s John Magno and Jeff Ferrer on Monday was the beginning of another successful run through the City Section individual tennis tournament.

Murthy and Steinberg have done well in past tournaments with different partners. Together, they are seeking their best showings, and their first-round victory at the Balboa Sports Complex in Encino was a good start.

“We wanted to see what worked,” Steinberg said. “We were definitely in our comfort zone.”

They have been in a zone for most of the season.

Steinberg, who advanced to the City final with Brian Mintz in 1999, and Murthy, who reached the quarterfinals in each of the previous three seasons, are 13-3 in sets this year. They are the No. 3-seeded team in the tournament.

“We had intentions to do this,” Murthy said. “Our games match, our personalities match, and we’re such good friends.

“It was a lot of fun, especially since we enjoy playing together so much.”

Steinberg, a junior, has played with Murthy in all of his doubles matches and was 12-0 while playing periodically playing in the No. 4 singles spot.

“I actually love singles, but it’s sometimes a lot more fun to play doubles,” Steinberg said. “It’s the sharing of it.”

Murthy, a senior who has played doubles throughout his career, knows the feeling.

He is 23-3 in sets this year, splitting time during the regular season with Steinberg and Ananya Sreepathi at No. 1 doubles.

A four-year varsity player, Murthy teamed with Danny Lim in his freshman and sophomore seasons and played with Steve Choi last season, reaching the quarterfinals all three seasons.

“I’ve always liked playing doubles,” Murthy said. “I think it’s more fun, and that’s the way I feel like I help the team the most.”

Murthy and Steinberg form a rare lefty-lefty tandem that can throw off opponents with the backspin on their serves and their accuracy from the net and baseline.

“I think our games mesh really well,” said Murthy, who will attend USC on an academic scholarship in the fall but will not play tennis for the Trojans. “Steve Choi’s a great player, but I think Brad and I are a better team. We’re better together.”

Granada Hills Coach Ron Wood agrees.

“They’re both solid players. Their games are similar and so are their personalities, and they feed off that energy,” he said. “I think they have a pretty decent draw. All they have to do is listen to each other and play their game.”

Both players have family ties to the individual tournament. Steve Ishoo and Murthy’s older brother, Deepu Murthy, lost in the 1997 doubles final to Palisades’ Jung Cho and Adam Pennella. Deepu Murthy and Matt Weiss eliminated Anand Murthy and Lim in the quarterfinals and went on to win the third-place match in 1998.

Steinberg’s sister, Jennifer, teamed with Andrea Blieden to win the third-place match of the girls’ tournament in 1999. Blieden and Jennifer Steinberg lost the third-place match in 1998.

“We debate over who has the better family lines,” Brad Steinberg joked.

Steinberg and Murthy will play Jon Esperitu and Mark Chantarawong of Narbonne in the second round at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday at Balboa Sports Complex.

“We have very, very high expectations,” Steinberg said. “Whether they’re realistic, we’ll have to see. It’s going to be tough, and we’ll have to play our A game. But we know pretty much the top competition, and we definitely think we have a good shot at it. We know we can win, we just have to do it.”

So far, so good.