LIMA – Two singles champions equaled one mixed doubles title.
Marina Fuduric, who won the Lima Area Tennis Association’s (LATA) women singles title this year, and Jeff Brown, the 2017 men’s singles champion, teamed up to defeat Jason Barton and Kaitlin Snider, 6-1, 6-3, to capture the 2017 LATA Mixed Doubles City Tournament title at the University of Northwestern Ohio courts Sunday.
The duo of Brown and Fuduric, with powerful ground strokes and tremendous net play, overpowered Barton and Snider to collect the win.
“We came out to play,” Brown said. “Marina played with a lot of passion out there and hit the ball big. She served extremely well in the first set. There was no pressure on our side and we were swinging away freely.”
Brown, who won had won back-to-back mixed doubles with his wife Andrea Arango-Brown, was not going to participate this year unless he was asked by the young Fuduric who has been coached by Brown since she was 5-years-old.
And with no other national events on her schedule Fuduric did ask Brown to be her doubles partner and he agreed.
“It was real exciting and I have been looking forward to it for a while and usually I never get to play doubles with him,” said Fuduric, who is entering the sixth grade this fall at St. Charles.
In the championship match against Snider and Barton, the Brown-Fuduric team cruised to the early 6-1 first set victory by winning the first five games and then closing it out after dropping a game.
In the second set, Barton and Snider were not about to go down without a fight and grabbed the first game of the second set. However, Brown and Fuduric countered by winning the next three games to go up 3-1.
Barton and Snider battled back to grab the next game to cut the lead to 3-2 but Fuduric and Brown, fighting on every shot resulting in several thrilling rallies, secured the next two games to go up 5-2 to put them in position to serve for the title.
Barton and Snider battled back and broke serve to delay Fuduric and Brown’s celebration that would come in the next game when the duo broke serve to notch the two-set win.
Barton, a Shawnee product, who plays tennis at LaMoyne College, said it was pretty awesome that he and Snider, a Wapakoneta grad who plays at Ashland University, made it to the finals despite never teaming up prior to this event.
“They just got the better of us,” said Barton,. “It was a tough match but we had fun out there. “We started slow in all of our matches and it kind of hurt us a little today because we had trouble catching back up but we did our best and kept it competitive for the most part.
While the main mixed double title was secured in two-sets, the mixed doubles draw needed a marathon and grueling three-set victory, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 by Mark Bauman and Jeanna Haggard over Kassie Hill and Klock to earn the title.
With two matches being played in the mixed doubles draw, the title was up for grab as the competitive bracket resulted in a number of scenarios determining the winner. But one thing was certain, if Bauman and Haggard won they were going to be champs.
It took all of Haggard and Bauman’s energy and a little luck to fend off the determined pair of Hill and Klock as the pair bounced back from a 6-1 loss to grab the second set 6-4 and force the decisive third set.
The doubles teams split the first four sets, 2-2, and then Bauman and Haggard gained the upper hand when they went up 3-2 and eventually 5-3 to put Hill and Klock on the ropes. Hill and Klock did put up one final stand to win the next game, but Bauman and Haggard took the next game to win the match.
“It was the first time I have played with Mark and I really enjoyed playing against Mike and Kassie,” Haggard said. “There was good competition and a lot of fun. I was able to keep the ball deep and Mark was good at grabbing a few balls at the net so that really helped us.”
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