Special to the Town Crier
Barely four years ago, Vania Apodaca and her older brother were shoveling snow from Reno's public tennis courts and playing with discarded wooden rackets. But on Memorial Day, the 17-year-old with a 100 mph serve and a two-handed backhand became one of the stars of the Mountain View Open.
Apodaca placed second in women's singles and teamed with Iwalani McKalla to win the doubles crown at the 31st annual tennis competition, held at Cuesta Tennis Center.
Apodaca, who lives in Los Altos Hills, and McKalla of San Francisco beat the duo of Barbara Jordan-Jasna Stefanovic 6-1, 7-5 in the doubles final.
Earlier in the day, it was McKalla who defeated Apodaca in the singles championship, 6-2, 6-4. Apodaca reached the title match with a 6-4, 6-4 semifinal win over Monique Jazer.
"I don't know much about tennis, I just love to play," said Apodaca, ranked No. 1 in the NorCal Girls 18 division. "This was my first non-junior event, and it was great playing against the more experienced women."
Apodaca, a former high school champion, lives with Waidy Lee in the Hills and trains with Sean Abdollahi at the Abdollahi International Tennis Academy in Mountain View.
Abdollahi discovered her at the world-famous Bolletieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where Andre Agassi and Monica Seles received their early training. Abdollahi said he was struck by Apodaca's natural talent and athleticism.
Since coming to Mountain View, she's won all four regional tournaments she's entered. In addition, Apodaca's maintained an A average via correspondence courses from McQueen High School in Reno.
Apodaca had the home-town support of some 50 kids from Abdollahi's academy, who came out to cheer her every point.
"It was a great tournament for her debut," Abdollahi said. "Now we'll just have to see how she does in the Bank of the West Classic this summer."
The Bank of the West begins July 26 at Stanford University.
In other Open play, Mountain View's David Fredericks and partner Mark Nielson of Palo Alto took the runner-up prize in men's doubles after losing 7-5, 6-4 in the finals to Gus Anderson and Brian Covey of Salinas. Fredericks-Nielson reached the finals with an exciting 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) semifinal victory.
A software engineer at Silicon Graphics who plays in two tournaments a year, Fredericks kept his demeanor with unruffled serves and volleys to save several match points in the third set.
Fredericks also placed second in mixed doubles. He and Stacy Lang fell 6-4, 6-3 to Byrum Nepomuceno and Julie DeArmond in the final.
Fredericks, who last decade helped UC-Santa Cruz win three NCAA Division III championships, also plays for a United States Tennis Association team out of Cuesta Park.
"I love this park," said Fredericks, 31. "I'm so glad the Mountain View Open is back. It was great playing to the crowd that came over to watch and cheer us on. It really made me proud of this city, and I think the tournament is a great way to get families involved in tennis."
This was the first Mountain View Open since 1994.