Sheng Halted Short of a Double Crown

Philip Sheng of Thousand Oaks High won the Southern Section individual boys’ tennis singles title in 1999 and was on his way to repeating last year when he was forced to retire because of leg cramps.

This year, he decided to try his hand at doubles with Andrew Lieu, and they advanced to the final before losing to top-seeded Brian Morton and Garrett Snyder of Corona del Mar, 6-4, 6-2, Saturday at SeaCliff Tennis Club in Huntington Beach.

“When I won two years ago the draw was a lot tougher and if I had won again this year it wouldn’t have proven anything because all of the best players are in doubles,” said Sheng, a senior who will attend Stanford on a partial tennis scholarship. “I looked at this as a chance to win something I haven’t won.”

Lieu and Sheng, seeded No. 2 in the tournament, lost only seven games on their way to the semifinals before dropping their first set to KC Corkery and Ryan Pfiefle of Mira Costa Saturday morning in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.

There isn’t much Sheng hasn’t won in high school. He defeated Nick Weiss of Calabasas to win the individual singles title as a sophomore and lost to Corkery by injury default as a junior.

Sheng also won the high school singles championship at the Ojai tournament last year while climbing to No. 4 in the United States Tennis Assn. boys’ 18 rankings.

Lieu, a junior, finished No. 23 in the nation and No. 11 in Southern California in the boys’ 16 division last year.

Morton and Snyder made short work of the Thousand Oaks duo, breaking Lieu in the second game. Morton aced Sheng with a second serve on set point.

Sheng netted an overhead smash to lose the first game of the second set and Lieu was broken two games later on Morton’s backhand return winner.

“[Morton] is the top-rated doubles player in Southern California and he showed why [Saturday],” Sheng said.

It was payback for Morton, who lost to Sheng and Corkery in doubles at the Easter Bowl tournament at Palm Springs in April while teamed with Derick Bauer.