Van’t Hof upended

Patrick Laverty

It was most likely a bit of hyperbole caused by the magnitude of the

game, but when Kaes Van’t Hof dropped the eighth game of the third

set after having five game points against Gary Sacks, he shouted out,

“Worst game ever.”

The win gave Sacks a 5-3 lead in the final set and a second

consecutive break on Van’t Hof’s service, something he had not

accomplished previously in the match. Sacks, the reigning CIF

Southern Section Division I champion, then closed out Van’t Hof for a

7-6, 2-6, 6-3 victory to advance to the quarterfinals of the boys 18s

bracket at the 101st annual Southern California Tennis Association

junior sectional championships.

Sacks’ victory avenged a loss to Van’t Hof in last year’s

tournament, in 16s, and sent Van’t Hof, of Newport Beach, to the

consolation bracket, where he will face Jonathan Tragardh at 9:30

a.m., at Los Caballeros Sports Village.

After dropping the first set tiebreaker, Van’t Hof roared back in

the second set, breaking Sacks, the first break for either player in

the match, to take a 3-2 advantage en route to sweeping the final

four games of the set.

It was an identical situation in the third set when Van’t Hof

again took a 3-2 advantage by breaking Sacks’ service.

But on the opening point of the next game, Van’t Hof’s second

serve was called out by Sacks. Van’t Hof, a senior-to-be at Mater

Dei, disagreed with the call and a minor argument ensued.

Sacks went on to win the next three points as well and broke Van’t

Hof for the first time in the match to even the third set at 3-3.

“I played a loose game,” Van’t Hof said. “[The call] didn’t really

affect me. I missed an easy volley on the point after that and then a

couple easy points. I thought I blew it on that game.”

Sacks held serve to take a 4-3 lead before a long eighth game that

saw the players at deuce six times.

Van’t Hof had a 40-15 advantage in that game and then had

consecutive game points after Sacks had pulled back to deuce. But

Van’t Hof could never put the Calabasas resident away.

Sacks had as much difficulty himself. He had two break points in a

row only to see the match return to deuce both times. After Van’t Hof

missed out on another game point opportunity, Sacks finally won

consecutive points, the final on coming when Van’t Hof sent a shot

long over the baseline.

“I had so many chances,” Van’t Hof said.

But on almost all of those Van’t Hof couldn’t get his first serve

to drop in.

“It kind of left me at the end of the third set,” Van’t Hof said.

“It was a little tiring, a little wear and tear.”

It was also a little frustrating, especially after Van’t Hof had

bounced back from the first-set tiebreaker loss in which Sacks won

six consecutive points to prevail 7-3.

“It was rough because I didn’t lose my serve the whole first set,

then I played some bad points in the tiebreaker,” Van’t Hof said. “I

didn’t move my feet.”

Most of Sacks’ points in the tiebreaker came on unforced errors on

the part of Van’t Hof.

Trailing 5-3 in the third set, Van’t Hof attempted to put together

one last rally. He trailed 40-15, giving Sacks two match points, but

fought back to deuce.

Like the preceding set, Van’t Hof gave himself opportunities, but

the results were also the same as he couldn’t convert on two break

point opportunities. Sacks finished the match with a long rally that

ended when Van’t Hof hit long.