Collegiate tennis stars a hit at Sherwood Country Club
It's UCLA vs. USC in the singles final
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers SMASHING SUCCESS- Dejan Cvetkovic, above, a senior at USC, drops down to get to a shot during the finals of the Sherwood Cup Monday afternoon at Sherwood Country Club. Haythem Abid, right, hits a powerful forehand return. Abid, a sophomore at UCLA, defeated Cvetkovic in three sets to win the singles championship.

The weather may have been bitter cold, but the action on the tennis court was red hot Monday afternoon during the finals of the Sherwood Cup 2007 at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks.

In the men's singles final, it was a matchup of crosstown rivals as UCLA sophomore Haythem Abid defeated USC senior Dejan Cvetkovic in three sets 7-5, 2-6 and 6-3.

Both players battled through blustery conditions, with winds exceeding 20 knots at times during the contest.

"It was very windy," said Abid, who was born in Tunisia. "I had to move around a lot. My serve was a little off, so I tried to put the ball in play and be aggressive when the ball was short.

"I was more aggressive than (Cvetkovic). I was moving a little better, and it's the small things that ended up giving me the match in the end."

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers

Cvetkovic said he was surprised with how well each player handled the difficult weather.

"With the conditions and everything, it was still a pretty good match," Cvetkovic said. "There weren't too many awful points where the wind just took the ball. It was rough on serves for both of us, I know that."

After splitting the first two sets, each player held serve to open the third and decisive set.

Abid used a wicked cross-court winner to break Cvetkovic's serve in the third game. The 21-year old Bruin broke Cvetkovic's serve again two games later en route to victory.

"There were three or four balls in that set that I just missed by inches," Cvetkovic said.

Throughout the third set, Abid became increasingly vocal and displayed more on-court emotion than he had all match.

"That's the most important thing- if you don't try hard and motivate yourself, then you're going to be sloppy on the court," Abid said. "I wanted to be more aggressive, and it worked."

Abid entered the singles tournament as the No. 5 seed. Cvetkovic was the No. 6 seed.

Shortly after winning the singles title, Abid was back on the court playing for a doubles championship. Abid and his partner, Mike Look, took on a pair of Bruin teammates, Ben Kohlloefel and Phillip Grundler.

Kohlloefel and Grundler, the top-seeded doubles team, won 8-4 in a pro-set match.

Thirty-two collegiate players representing six universities took part in the seventh annual Sherwood Cup. In addition to UCLA and USC, Stanford, Boise State, Pepperdine and Baylor comprised a field that included five of the past seven NCAA Division I men's team tennis champions.

"It was actually one of the best draws in recent years," said Darren Miller, Sherwood's director of tennis. "There was a tournament in the desert that got canceled, so a lot of players came over here at the last minute. A lot of guys wanted to play."

USC coach Peter Smith said he was very impressed with the level of competition at the fourday event.

"That's how strong of a field it is- we had the NCAA champ from last year, and he went out in the first round," Smith said.

Smith was referring to Kohlloefel, the tournament's top seed who lost to Stanford's Richard Wire last Friday.

While in town for the event, some players and coaches reside at the Westlake Village Inn. Many, however, stay with families that have homes at Sherwood.

Maureen Duffy-Lewis, the chair of tennis for Sherwood's board of directors, had a pair of players from Stanford stay at her family's home during the tournament. One night, Duffy-Lewis hosted a dinner for 11 players and coaches.

"All of them, the kids from every school, they're just delightful," Duff-Lewis said. "And they are some great, great NCAA tennis players, too."