Championship match

Pradeeban Peter-Paul vs. Eric Owens

In a quiet pre-match moment, Eric tells me that he’ll be looking to pull Praddy wide to his forehand to open up his much softer backhand corner. In the actual event, it’s nothing like that. Peter-Paul comes out as he likes to do, like a ball of fire, working fast, serving exceptionally and putting that nasty forehand into play. He smokes Eric in the first game, 11-3. But Owens, with help from his corner, adapts quickly. Tactics are evolving, changing throughout this match. Now he begins to bring his Loop not wide to the forehand, but to the middle, forcing softer returns and passive blocks. 7, 9, 6, Eric runs off three in a row and the crowd looks restless. Apparently all of the Open Singles matches here are going to be blowouts. But these are two great champions after all, so I know better than to count Praddy out. Now it seems he wants to go backhand to backhand with Eric, trying to pin him into his backhand corner. This is dangerous stuff, especially since Eric can step around for forehand winners or redirect his backhand down the line. But it puts Praddy back in the match, and Eric mishits just enough of these to pull Praddy back into the match. Rhythm and momentum are so important between closely matched opponents! It doesn’t hurt to catch a lucky break from time to time as well. Not once, but twice, lobbing from his backhand corner, Peter-Paul catches an ‘excuse-me’ edge! 11-8, and it’s 3-2. Game six is more of the same, and Eric cleanly misses a forehand kill against lob. 11-9 and the tenacious Canadian has tied the whole affair! The crowd is buzzing now, and they are not to be disappointed. Both players have pulled out all the stops, and are going great guns. Eric leads at the switch of ends, but has to come back to make 9 all in the seventh! Naturally, deuce in the 7^th in the last STIGA North American Tour final of the year!

Praddy is holding serve, and offers up a doozy, a short, heavily spun wicked number…which Owens fearlessly flips for a clean winner to the forehand corner! Eric serves, and follows with a loopkill to Praddy’s backhand and the match, $2,000 and the title are his!

It was a great ending, although I could hardly blame Praddy for brushing aside my post-match congratulations on his outstanding oh-so-close comeback against Eric. “I have 1200 reasons to really dislike that outcome” Praddy smiles as he pockets the $800 Finalist reward. “Maybe so,” I respond, “but you won 1200 hearts with your fighting spirit!” Peter-Paul gives me an ‘oh-you-are-so-smarmy’ look, but he and Xavier smile, knowing I am sincere in my admiration.

I also admire the NATT staff, Richard and Tom, Ref Linda Hsing, host SDTTA and the Balboa Park Activity Center, Reuben Kairy, emergency umpire Marco Borillo and each and every player who participated in the 2005 STIGA North American Tour. It’s for you folks that NATT and STIGA work so hard to present the best-managed series on the continent. See you next year!