Singles Tennis Crown Passes from Williams to Newman

Marshall High’s No. 1 seed Noah Newman proved deserving of his ranking by defeating second-seeded and defending city champion Robert Williams of Dorsey Wednesday at the Raquet Centre in Studio City.

Williams, reportedly weakened by stomach flu, won only the middle set in the 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 victory by the new City Section singles champ.

“I thought I played pretty good when I had to,� Newman said. “He took the pace off the ball and caused me to make errors, but I was able to keep the ball on the court and keep the pressure on him.�

Said Marshall Coach Fred Scott: “Noah played really well overall. He was able to step up his game and outplay [Williams] in the third set.�

Williams appeared sluggish as Newman attacked the net. Williams was slow trying to retrieve Newman’s passing shots.

“It wasn’t known if Robert was going to be able to even play,� Dorsey Coach Dave Gordon said. “He showed a lot of heart and character by showing up.�

Williams gave credit to his opponent.

“Noah played really well. He kept me running around the court,� Williams said. “He moved the ball around . . . and kept a lot of pressure on me.�

In the third-place singles match, it only took 40 minutes for unseeded freshman Jesse Melton of the Los Angeles Center of Enriched Studies to defeat No. 4 seed James Oh of Chatsworth, 6-1, 6-1, to finish third in the singles competition.

“This was one of my quickest matches ever,� Melton said. “Everything was clicking.�