Tanner Falls in Semifinal to Former Newbury Park High Player

OJAI — When Roscoe Tanner signed up to play the 95th Ojai Valley tennis tournament, engravers might have prematurely etched his name on the men’s open championship trophy.

After all, Tanner, a resident of Westlake Village, has won a grand slam event. He beat Guillermo Vilas to win the 1977 Australian Open.

The Ojai doesn’t often attract players of that stature anymore. But former Thousand Oaks resident Sean Brawley wasn’t fazed. He beat Tanner 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, in the semifinal round Saturday.

“I was a little nervous,” said Brawley, 33, who attended Newbury Park High and Villanova Prep in Ojai before playing at USC and for a short time on the pro tour. “But I saw him play (Friday) and I saw that I needed to mix up the pace--not serve and volley. He’s a good counter-puncher.”

Tanner, 42, drew a large crowd, mainly because his presence at Libbey Park was something rare.

“We haven’t had a star like this in my 10 years,” said Gerry Roe, tournament publicity director. “(Grand Slam) winners used to come back regularly. But that stopped when the pro tour started paying big money.”

The last was Alex Olmedo, who beat Rod Laver, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, for the 1959 Wimbledon championship and won the Ojai open title in 1976.

Tanner, 42, beat Vilas, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 in 1977. He came out of retirement last year for three seniors tournaments. Tanner looked exhausted in the second set and offered a number of self-deprecating quips such as “How about that for a 90-year-old, eh?” and “I hit the ball and it goes like a bleeping rock.”

“I was weary mentally, not physically,” Tanner said. “I wasn’t tired at all. I’m in good shape. Everybody was thinking there was pressure on me to play here. I don’t think so. These guys are tough.

“I’m just out here struggling to keep even with them. But I think I’m giving them a good run.”

Tanner had two break-point opportunities in the second set but Brawley held to make it 3-3. Brawley then broke Tanner to lead, 5-4, when Tanner put a forehand return into the net.

The crowd, which never gave up on Tanner, erupted when he hit a backhand passer to make it 30-30 in the final game. But when Tanner hit long on his next service return to sink to 30-40, you could hear a pin drop. Brawley closed it out with a backhand cross.

Notes

In girls’ 18-and-under singles, Ania Bleszynski of Thousand Oaks beat Krissy Hamilton of Agoura Hills, 6-4, 6-4, to repeat as champion. Hamilton, No. 1 last year by the Southern California Tennis Assn., is 1-3 against Bleszynski. . . . In the girls’ 16 singles final, Sophia Managadze of Glendale beat Kirsten Gross of Calabasas, 6-2, 6-3. . . . Mike and Bob Bryan of Camarillo won their second consecutive boys’ 16 doubles championship, defeating Rooshi Panchal and Sanjay Roy of Diamond Bar, 6-0, 6-0.

Dylan Mann of Canoga Park fell to Joseph Gilbert of Fullerton, 7-5, 6-2, in the boys’ 16 singles final. Erin Carroll of Ventura lost to Jess Melton of Los Angeles, 6-1, 6-4, in a boys’ 14 semifinal. . . . Paul Gross and Jeremy Testwuide of Chaminade lost the boys’ interscholastic doubles final to Ian Carrera and Jimmy Walker of Santa Barbara, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-2).