Southern Section Individual Tennis Championships : Leach Wins in Singles, Bellolis Take Doubles

Jon Leach won the Southern Section individual tennis tournament singles title with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Rob Grant of Corona High School Saturday at the Fountain Valley Racquet Club.

Leach appeared to be in control throughout the match. His serve and passing shots were perfectly placed. He was patient and poised at all times.

And to think he’s only a freshman.

Leach, who is about to finish his first year at Laguna Beach High School, is the first freshman to win the Southern Section singles title since Jon (Jackie) Douglas of Santa Monica won it in 1952. Douglas went on to become a quarterback on the Stanford football team.

Jon is the second Leach to win the singles championship. Rick, his older brother and a touring pro, won the 1983 title while playing for Laguna Beach.

Grant had to go three sets before he beat pesky Willy Quest of Long Beach Wilson, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, in the semifinal played earlier Saturday, and he had little left against Leach.

Grant played well for most of the first set and stayed on serve until Leach broke him at 6-5 to win the first set, 7-5. In the second set, however, Grant’s fatigue was more apparent. At one point, his left leg cramped so much that he had to stop and lean against a fence to stretch it out.

Leach broke Grant’s serve twice and ran him to exhaustion late in the match.

“I’ve won (some open national age-group tournaments) that were probably bigger, but this was better because the guys are all older,” Leach said.

Grant is a senior, as is Bill Behrens of Rolling Hills, who was the top-seeded player going into the tournament. Leach, who was seeded fourth, had even less trouble beating Behrens, 6-3, 6-1, in the semifinals Saturday.

“Jon really had a game plan (against Behrens),” Bob Walton, Laguna Beach coach, said. “He was able to do exactly what he wanted to do. I was surprised at the scores.

“Rob was so scrappy. He was cramping up and was dead tired, but Jon just focused on what he was doing.”

Leach will leave for Europe on June 7 to play in a tournament. He has had to arrange to take his final examinations a week early.

“It’s either the Junior French Open or the Italian, I forget,” Walton said. “He’s really mature for a 15-year-old. He’s played all over the world . . . Europe and Australia. He’s got some pretty good genes working for him.”

The doubles featured an all-Orange County final. Brothers Jeff and Chris Belloli of Servite defeated Neel Grover and Stan Sanders of Dana Hills, 7-6, 7-6.

Grover and Sanders were the defending champions and appeared to have the Bellolis flustered early in the first set.

“We’re not used to having our serves broken that much, so it took a little while to steady ourselves down,” Chris Belloli said. “We stayed with it, but we easily could have been down, 4-2.”

The Bellolis rallied, though, sending the set into a tiebreaker, which they won, 7-4.

Each side held serve, forcing another tiebreaker in the second set. The Bellolis led, 5-3, but Grover and Sanders came back to tie it at 5-5. But the Belloli brothers pulled it out, 7-5.

“This is great,” Jeff Belloli said. “It’s just what we wanted with the Ojai and (Southern Section) title. That’s something we can really look back on.”

Leach could have said the same thing. With his victory Saturday, he has a chance to become the first player to win four consecutive singles titles in his career.