A thunderstorm rolled into central Arkansas early Friday morning, forcing the final of the USTA National Boys 12s Championship indoors.
Zane Khan adjusted to the venue change well enough to break twin brother Faris' serve three times in the third set on his way to a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory at the Burns Park Tennis Center in North Little Rock. The national championship was the second of the summer for Zane, who beat Faris more convincingly 1-6, 6-0, 6-0 in mid-July to win the USTA National Clay Court title in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Results
USTA National Boys 12s Championship
at Burns Park Tennis Center, North Little Rock
SINGLES
Championship
(3) Zane Khan def. (6) Faris Khan 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
Consolation
(7) Spencer Brachman def. (2) Jeremie Casabon 6-1, 6-1
SINGLES GOLD DIVISION
Championship
Nicholas Garcia def. Stefan Leustain 6-1, 6-3
"We know each other's game pretty well, so it is hard to have any surprises," said Zane, who moved with his family recently from San Antonio to Boca Raton, Fla., site of the USTA Training Center. "He plays better indoors, but I thought I played pretty well today."
Faris broke Zane's serve twice in the second set, winning the last three games to break a 3-3 tie. With thunder rolling in the background, Zane began his roll at the start of the third set, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead in which he won 16 of 17 points, including 13 consecutive.
"I started playing more offensive and started coming in more," Zane said of his third-set spurt. "I felt like I needed to be in control of every single point, and that helped me win most of the points there."
Despite the 4-0 deficit, Faris held serve easily before breaking Zane with three winners to get to within 4-2. Faris was on the verge of winning his third consecutive as he was serving with the advantage, but Zane ripped a forehand winner to force deuce. After Faris hit a shot into the net, Zane took the game with a winner off a second serve for a 5-2 lead.
Zane, who had 14 winners in the final set, nailed back-to-back shots to jump out to a 30-0 advantage in the clinching game. He hit a second-serve winner and then watched Faris hit long on the final point to clinch the championship.
"He played really well." Faris said."I just couldn't do anything that third set. He started making more shots."
Neither brother dominated in the first set as Zane jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Faris fought back to win the next two and ultimately broke Zane's serve to take a 5-4 advantage. Zane quickly broke Faris in a game that took less than 1 1/2 minutes to play to tie the set before Faris made four unforced errors in the next and trailed 6-5.
Zane promptly hit three winners on his way to breaking Faris for the fourth time in winning the opening set.
Faris led 3-1 before Zane quickly won two games to tie the second set at 3-3. Zane hit a lull with his service game and Faris capitalized on his way to the second-set victory.
"The second set, I started playing too defensive and let him get offensive the whole set," Zane said. "I have to work on flattening out the ball more and practice on my serve, but I think overall I am doing pretty well."
Sports on 08/09/2014