Tennis Pair Third at City Tourney

Though their team lost to Granada Hills in the semifinals of the City Section tennis playoffs last month, Palisades High players Sepehr Safii and Stephen Surjue were able to exact some measure of revenge last Wednesday, defeating the Highlanders’ No. 1 duo of Jeremy Choo and Jared Novak , 6-4, 7-6 (6), to take third place in the All-City Individual Doubles tournament at Balboa Tennis Center in Encino. In addition to beating Granada Hills’ best team, Safii and Surjue were also the only team to take a set off of El Camino Real’s Isaac Adrabi and Chad Gerber, the top-seeded tandem in the tournament, winning the opening set of their semifinal match 7-5 before losing the last two, 6-0, 6-1. ‘They played great the whole tournament,’ PaliHi head coach Bud Kling said of Safii and Surjue. ‘They gave the best team in the City a fight and they beat a more experienced team in the third-place match. That bodes well for next season.’ For the second year in a row, Palisades’ No. 1 player Chris Ko was done in by injury. Ko rolled an ankle during his second set in the City team finals last season’an injury that kept him from participating in the individual tournament as well. This time, Ko was seeded No. 1 in the 64-player singles draw and reached the semifinals with ease. But there, during a tense baseline duel with eventual singles champion Bobby Tam of Belmont, Ko hurt his back and had to default due to injury after dropping the first set, 7-5. ‘It’s disappointing that Chris got hurt because he would’ve had a good chance to win the singles,’ Kling said. ‘He’s beaten Bobby before and he would’ve beaten the kid Bobby beat in the finals.’ Ko, a junior, lost only one set against City opponents this year’to Phil Weisburd of Granada Hills in the team semifinals. Against Tam, Ko was on serve and playing well when he felt a twinge in his back. ‘I wanted to keep playing, but I knew there was no way I could,’ Ko said. ‘It hurt just moving and I couldn’t serve at all. I think I would’ve won if I didn’t get hurt.’ The 2004 season officially over, Kling is now focusing his attention on 2005 and he likes the way his team is shaping up. ‘Nine out of our 10 starters will return, plus two of the top JV players. We may have a shot to win City next year. The lack of competition in our league really cost us this season. It didn’t prepare us for the playoffs. We need to develop a stronger third doubles.’