Continues dominance in Hartshorne Cup
HARTSHORNE CUP finalists Brian Robertson (left) and Jon Laramie (right) are pictured with long time participant and former tournament director Bud Keohan. Robertson captured his 11th straight title this past weekend.
Published in the June 23, 2016 edition.
By BUD KEOHAN
WAKEFIELD — There is no challenger in sight to end the streak of former WMHS boys’ tennis coach Brian Robertson, who lost only eight games in eight sets (48-8) in claiming his 11th consecutive Hartshorne Cup town men’s singles tennis title, a streak that began in 2006.
Jonathan Laramie, in reaching the title match for the second time in the past three years (he also was the finalist in 2014), played a solid match but could not break Robertson’s serve, although in bowing 1-6, 2-6 he became the only player to win three games this year, going 3-4 on his serve while Robertson was 8-0. The perennial champion had an 11 point margin in each set, 25-14 and 29-18 for 54-32 in points.
After Robertson opened with a love game, Laramie surprisingly matched it with his own love service game and battled to deuce in the third game only to have Robertson go on an 18-7 surge to take the first set in spite of some good play by Laramie, who like his WMHS classmate, Jonathan Owen, now is 32.
Serving from the Hemlock Road end Laramie fired an ace for 40-15 and held at deuce. After Robertson held at 15, Laramie took a 30-15 edge in the pivotal third game but was broken at 30. When Robertson held at love for 3-1, Laramie held at 15, winning it with a cross court placement. Laramie forced a deuced sixth game but Robertson took 10 of the last 13 points, in spite of a double fault to 30-30 in the final game, to finish the game Laramie off.
Robertson in 11 years has yet to be taken to a rubber set in a Hartshorne Cup clash.
The Semifinal
Robertson had qualified for the final Wednesday night against Rob Imbriano, who is a dangerous foe for anyone but Robertson. But Saturday provided a dramatic three setter where Laramie checked Rich Greif 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, pulling away in the rubber set as Greif tired since at 47 he was giving away 15 years to Laramie.
This was Greif’s first trip to the semis although he has been knocking on the door in close quarterfinals recently. The points were 37-31, 21-29, 31-19 for a match total of 89-79. Serve was not dominant as Laramie was 7-8 and Greif 5-9, 17 breaks in 29 games. Only four games went to deuce, all in the final nine games.
Greif, very steady and tough to break down unless he hits a bare patch, broke at 30 and held at 15 for 2-0 but Laramie won three games, all at 30, to go to 3-2. Greif held at 30 and then twice went ahead at 4-3 and 5-4 with breaks only to have Laramie break back immediately. From a 4-5 deficit Laramie broke at 15, held strongly at love and broke again at 30 to take the seven break first set.
In the second set Greif broke Laramie at love in the first and third games, losing his own serve at 30 in the second game. Serve held in the middle three games for the only time in the set, Laramie winning the fifth game at love. But the break pattern resumed with Greif getting to 5-2 and, after being broken, winning at deuce after Laramie saved a set point by hitting the baseline.
Greif certainly tried to keep the momentum going in the rubber set but he fell behind 3-0 in spite of leading 40-0 in the first game and 30-0 in the third. Down 30-15 in the fourth game Greif took four of five points for a deuced game break but Laramie took eight of nine points to 5-1. Greif’s last stand was to hold at 30 and get ahead at 0-30 in the final game only to have Laramie battle back to deuce and check the final Greif effort.
Consolation Final
Elliott Miller, who has been in more consolation finals and won more of them than anyone else in Wakefield tennis history because of his proclivity in losing three setters to start tournaments, only to start winning once in the consolation, did it again after staring at defeat.
Veteran Al Allard, who lost substantial weight and now can move swiftly on the court at 67, was on the very verge of victory at 6-4, 5-2, when the 59-year-old Miller got underway with a seven game surge and went on to win 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, taking 11 of the last 13 games in a complete turnaround. Allard had taken 11 of the first 17, winning 58 of the first 105 points. The key was that Miller never allowed Allard to reach match point as he fought back to 5-5 and surged on from there.
In the first set there were only three breaks, Allard breaking at 15 in the third game after holding at deuce only to have Miller immediately cancel the break out by taking the fourth game at 30. But Allard went from 2-3 to 5-3 by twice holding at deuce and breaking at 15 in the seventh game. Allard had a slight 32-29 edge in points in the first set.
In the middle set from 2-2 Allard took two games at 15 and won a deuced game for a 5-2 edge. But Miller finally got his powerful game going and took seven straight games to even the match and go ahead 2-0 in the third set. Miller broke Allard seven straight times, yielding his own serve in the third and seventh games of the rubber set.
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2016 HARTSHORNE CUP RESULTS
First Round
Top Quarter: Brian Robertson (1) def. Joe Flynn 6-2, 6-0; Bill Conley def. Al Allard 6-4, 6-0.
Second Quarter: Cliff King (4) def. Elliott Miller 6-2, 5-7, 6-1; Rob Imbriano def. Paul Normile 6-2, 6-2.
Third Quarter: Rich Greif def. Ray Wu 6-0, 6-3; Jonathan Owen (3) def. Bud Keohan 6-0, 6-0.
Bottom Quarter: Brett Jackson def. Tom Flynn 7-5, 6-4; Jonathan Laramie (2) def. Dick Jennings 6-0, 6-0.
Quarterfinals
Robertson (1) def. Conley 6-2, 6-0; Imbriano def. King (4) 7-6 (8-6), 6-1; Greif def. Owen (3) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Laramie (2) def. Jackson 6-1, 6-4.
Semifinals
Robertson (1) def. Imbriano 6-0, 6-1; Laramie (2) def. Greif 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
Title Match
Robertson (1) def. Laramie (2) 6-1, 6-2.
Consolation Tourney
Quarterfinals: T. Flynn def. Jennings 6-4, 7-5; Allard def. J. Flynn 6-3, 6-1.
Semifinals: Miller def. Wu 1-6, 6-4, 6-3; Allard def. T. Flynn 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.
Title Match: Miller def. Allard 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
