Ball tops rival for 16s title

Barry Faulkner

After nearly two dozen meetings, spanning the last six years, Carsten

Ball’s rivalry with Shan Sondhu has become more than competitive.

It’s personal.

So it was with extra elation that Ball, who will be a junior at

Corona del Mar High next fall, savored his 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory over

the Laguna Niguel resident in the boys 16s singles final of the 101st

annual Southern California Tennis Association junior sectional

championships Sunday at Los Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club.

“This is the best,” said Ball, the No. 6 seed, who staved off two

match points in the second set to win his first sectionals crown.

“This is my biggest win.”

Ball, who helped CdM post an unbeaten season that included the

2003 CIF Southern Section Division I team title, said the victory

also helped cut into Sondhu’s advantage in head-to-head meetings,

which he estimated at 20.

“Shan and I have a big history and he has been on top,” Ball said.

“But all the stuff he has done over the years to a lot of people, may

be catching up to him.”

Ball said Sondhu, who attends Aliso Niguel High, has earned a

reputation for cutting corners during competition.

“Cheating, anything he can do to win,” was how Ball put it, when

pressed for specifics. “Luckily, today I had a line judge [one match

referee who presided from an elevated chair at one side of the net].

She overruled [Sondhu] twice on line calls early in the match and he

stopped [calling balls out] after that.”

Ball appeared to need more than luck to overcome Sondhu’s strong

serve and ground strokes, especially after Sondhu erased a 4-1

first-set deficit to take control of the match.

Sondhu, the No. 5 seed, won the final five games of the first set,

prompting increasing frustration from Ball, who finally lost a point

for racquet abuse by hurling it into the fence after dropping set

point.

Ball’s frustration was typified by a sequence in the ninth game of

the opening set. Leading, 5-3, Ball was up, 30-15, and stationed at

the net for what appeared to be an easy overhead putaway. But Ball

hit the shot wide, prompting a groan from Ball’s supporters in the

crowd and repeated shouts of regret from Ball on the court.

Seemingly still miffed by his missed overhead, Ball double faulted

and made two additional errors to allow Sondhu to pull within 5-4.

Ball rallied for a 2-1 second-set lead, but Sondhu, relying on

Ball miscues and his own powerful serve, won three straight games.

Sondhu smashed two aces and another service winner during the

three-game surge.

Ball closed within 4-3, but Sondhu won the next game, which

featured another missed overhead by Ball and a Ball forehand that

kicked off the tape and veered sharply outside the sideline on game

point.

“I think it shook me out of my rhythm,” Ball said of the critical

errors.

A Ball backhand drop volley averted the first match point in the

ninth game, when a deep approach shot forced Sondhu to hit wide on

the second match point. Ironically, Ball won the game on a difficult

overhead from about 10 feet inside his own baseline.

The overhead was the start of nine straight points for Ball. With

renewed momentum, he proceeded to win the second set, as well as the

first game of the deciding third set.

“I felt [the momentum change],” Ball said of his second-set surge.

“All my strokes were starting to fall into place and I thought he was

getting tired. I knew if I just kept playing hard, it would pay off

in the end.”

Ball broke serve to earn a 3-1 lead, as Sondhu appeared to be

stretching to work out a lower-back problem and also began limping

slightly and massaging his left thigh.

Sondhu, however, remained effective, claiming the fifth game, then

closing again to within 4-3 as Ball double faulted on game point.

After a service winner and an ace put Sondhu ahead in the eighth

game, however, he self-destructed, dropping the final two games and

the match.

“We’ve been playing against each other since the 10s,” Ball said.

“I guess today was my day.”

Ball’s victory Sunday capped a five-match run to the title. He

defeated Trevor Dobson of Redondo Beach, 7-5, 6-2, in the first

round, then dispatched Alex Krueger-Wyman of Pasadena, 6-1, 6-0.

In the quarterfinals, he topped Stefan Hardy of Santa Maria, 6-4,

6-2, before defeating Mike Gurman of Los Angeles, 6-2, 6-4, in

Saturday’s semifinals.