Servite’s Buchanan Outlasts Long Day and Long Match

Patrick Buchanan is looking to play it again.

The defending champion in the CIF boys’ interscholastic singles division was lucky to play at all Friday, when rains set Ojai Valley tennis tournament matches back nearly seven hours.

As it was, Buchanan, a senior at Anaheim Servite High, finished his last match in darkness. The No. 5-seeded player defeated Adrian Mardyks of Oxnard Rio Mesa, 6-4, 6-2, in the third round and fourth-seeded Malcolm Scatliffe of San Gorgonio, in a tiebreaker in the quarterfinals.

“So far, so good,” Buchanan said.

Buchanan will play top-seeded Doug Stewart of Malibu, the defending Southern Section champion who beat Buchanan for that title last year, in the semifinals at 8 this morning at Thacher School. Stewart defeated Santa Barbara’s Blake Muller, 6-3, 6-2, in a quarterfinal.

If Buchanan upsets Stewart, he will have a chance to become the first repeat winner in the division since Rick Leach of Laguna Beach in 1982-83.

Third-seeded Rylan Rizza of Peninsula, a 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 winner over Thousand Oaks’ Andrew Lieu in another quarterfinal, faces either Chris Surapol of Cerritos Whitney or second-seeded Aaron Yovan of Irvine University in the other semifinal.

The division final match is scheduled for 2 today.

“He’s as ready as he’ll ever be,” Sevite Coach Dick Fumanti said of Buchanan.

Opponents are more prepared for him too, if they waited around to watch his long quarterfinal match Friday.

In a match that ended at 7:45 p.m., Scatliffe took Buchanan to a 10-point tiebreaker before falling, 7-6, 4-6, 10-7. Tiebreakers were used instead of full third sets to shorten matches after the rain.

“This year is a lot tougher,” Buchanan said. “I’m a target now and everybody picks up their game for me.”

Buchanan takes it as a compliment and and an opportunity to raise his play.

“You just have to stay focused,” he said. “I’m staying positive. There’s no real pressure on me. I’ve already done this. I’ve been there.”

If Buchanan, a baseliner who previously relied on his return of serve, reaches the championship match again, it will be because of more frequent and effective approaches to the net.

“I’ve been working hard on it, and I think it surprises people because I’ve never done it before. I think it catches them off-guard, especially on the big points.”

Buchanan, who is headed to Notre Dame in the fall, has converted most of the big points for Servite (16-2) the past three-plus seasons.

He has a record of 205-4 in sets in a four-year varsity career, losing his first regular-season set to Fullerton Troy’s Jeffrey Das in a nonleague match last week.

Buchanan (34-1 this year) went 73-1 last season, losing only to Stewart in the Southern Section title match. Stewart has won the last three times they have met.

“He can do basically everything,” Buchanan said of Stewart, “and he’s just been on fire.”