SECTION FINALS : Tennis : Blowout Lost, but Not Title : Martinez Starts Fast, Hangs On to Win Singles

SAN DIEGO —  For a while Friday, it appeared as though St. Augustine’s Ignacio Martinez was going to blow Hilltop’s Francisco Santillan off the court in less than an hour. Santillan’s unforced errors and Martinez’s steady play were making for a very uneven match.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Martinez’s straight-set victory--Santillan decided he wanted to play a little longer, picking up the pace and the pressure. Martinez faltered but then held on to win the San Diego Section boys’ singles title, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), at the San Diego Tennis and Racquet Club.

Efrem Zimbalist and Jason Wurl defeated Torrey Pines teammates Mike Kestler and Jim Sunderland, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), for the doubles championship.

Trailing, 5-1, in the third set and facing match point, Santillan suddenly began to come in behind his backhand. The strategy enabled him to win the next three points to force an eighth game.

Santillan, a junior from Cuernavaca, Mexico, held serve and then broke Martinez again with a backhand passing shot down the line. After Santillan held again to tie the set at 5-5, Martinez’s throat began to tighten.

“I was feeling kind of nervous,” Martinez said. “I lost my confidence.”

And Santillan’s began to grow.

“I thought I was going to get the set,” said Santillan, who last played Martinez some five years ago in a junior tournament in Mexico. “He wasn’t doing what he was doing early. I think he thought he had the match. He started to miss shots.”

But in the 11th game, Martinez started to make them again and held serve. Santillan also held to force a tiebreaker.

Martinez went up, 4-1, before Santillan scored three consecutive points to tie. Martinez hit an overhead winner, and Santillan netted a backhand volley to send it to match point. Martinez closed it out by lobbing Santillan, who barely netted a backhand.

“He did what he had to do,” Santillan said. “He played the big points pretty good.”

Martinez plans to play the Southern California sectionals later this month and the Mexican national tournament in Guadalajara in August. Santillan wants to go to Europe to play in some summer satellite tournaments. Both may return to this final next year; each is a junior.

In doubles, Zimbalist and Wurl won the first set with ease, then had to fight back from 4-1 and 5-2 deficits in the second set to force the tiebreaker.

Kestler, a senior, and Sunderland, only a sophomore, had a set point in the eighth game but let it slip away. From there, Zimbalist and Wurl began to take control.

“We noticed their frustration,” Wurl said. “We just tried to keep it in play.”

Zimbalist and Wurl, both seniors, had trailed, 3-0, Thursday in the third set of their semifinal before coming back to win.

“Our pattern has been to win the first set easily then blow the next set and then come back in the third,” Wurl said. “We realized today we couldn’t let that happen.”

Zimbalist and Wurl, who also played together last year, were seeded No. 3, while Sunderland and Kestler were No. 5. The teams met in the Palomar League finals last month, with Zimbalist and Wurl winning in a third-set tiebreaker.

“They were out to get us, but we wanted it really bad,” said Zimbalist, grandson of actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

Zimbalist plans to try and walk on at Northern Arizona next year. Wurl will attempt to do the same at USC.