For Matt Malinsky, the ninth time was the charm.
After falling in the city men’s singles final eight times, Malinsky broke through with his first title Tuesday night. The 34-year-old Columbus East boys and girls tennis coach and teaching pro at Tipton Lakes Athletic Club beat Anthony Sanders 6-3, 7-5.
“It feels like a relief, honestly,” Malinsky said. “Over all the years, I always felt like there were times I should have done better in the finals. I either got nervous and cramped or didn’t play my best or sometimes just got smoked by somebody that was really good.”
Tuesday night, a relaxed Malinsky used a fast start and a big finish. He jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set. Sanders won the next three games, but Malinsky closed out the set.
“I was so familiar playing with Anthony,” Malinsky said. “He’s one of my best friends, so I think he kind of brought the best out in me, just in my feelings on the court and my attitude because it felt in the first set like I was just hitting with my friend, and I kind of was able to zone out all the pressure that I would normally have. I think that’s probably what happened in that first set, and then the second set, there were times I forgot I was just playing with one of my best friends, and I had to kind of grind a little bit more.”
Malinsky led 3-2 in the second set before Sanders won three consecutive games to take a 5-3 lead. Malinsky then ran off four in a row to close out the match.
“I think it took him a little bit longer to get into it, but by the end of the first set, he was kind of fighting back,” Malinsky said. “We’ve had a lot of different practice sessions where we hit with each other. We started just knowing each others’ games so well that some days, he would be sharper than I was, and he’d just know exactly what to do and just pick me apart, and there were some days when it was the opposite and I could know exactly what to do. He just wasn’t as sharp in the beginning, and I felt more relaxed out there just kind of hitting with my friend.”
Sanders had beaten Malinsky in the 2017 final. Sanders also won in 2018 when Malinsky was out after having elbow surgery.
“He was more on more often than I was,” Sanders said. “There were times in the match where I was feeling really confident. At the end, even though I was down 6-5, I still felt confident in the last game. But he just had a little bit more patience, and he definitely stepped up on the big occasions tonight moreso than I did.”
Sanders, 25, is assistant boys and girls tennis coach at Columbus North. He is going into final year at Purdue Polytechnic, working on a mechanical engineering degree.
This summer, Sanders has been working a construction job. That made for some long days Monday, when the semifinals were played, and Tuesday.
“Since I’ve been working construction, I haven’t gotten to hit as much, so I’d say there was a little bit of fatigue, and I wasn’t as prepared as I have been in years’ past physically,” Sanders said. “Maybe my movement wasn’t as good, but I don’t want to blame that on working because I’m not the only one that works all day.”
Anthony was bidding to make it a Sanders singles sweep. His sister Melissa won the women’s singles division by default when her finals opponent, who is from Cincinnati, opted not to return to Columbus on Tuesday.
Melissa also won her opening-round match by default. Her only match was a 6-3, 6-4 semifinal win against Supriya Sunder Rajan.
“It’s very exciting,” Melissa said. “I only had to play one match because of the draws, but a win is a win. I’m still really excited. My family plays in this tournament every year, so it’s fun to get a win when you can.”
Following their singles final, Malinsky and Anthony Sanders teamed up to defend their doubles championship that they won in 2019 (The 2020 event was canceled because of COVID-19). They trailed Michael Schoumacher and Danny Frastaci 4-2 in first set before rallying for a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
In other city finals on Tuesday, the mother-daughter duo of Julie and Ali Bergman beat Tasha Overmyer and Andrea Regan 6-3, 6-1 to win the women’s open doubles division. Masahiro Sato beat Darren Hickey 7-5, 6-2 in the men’s 40-and-over singles final, Kevin Johnson and Mark Johnson edged Jody Littrell and Tony Gambaiani 6-1, 1-6, (10-8) in the men’s 40-and-over doubles final and Caleb Morris of Lafayette won the 2.5 men’s singles division by default.
On Monday, Andrea Burkhardt of Indianapolis and David Chader of Trafalgar beat Akshaya Sabapathy and Kathryn Hodzen 6-1, 6-0 in the mixed open doubles final. Jiazhou Zhong of Lafayette and Maomao Xu of Columbus topped Carl Fry and Andy Scheidler 6-0, 6-1 in the 4.0 men’s doubles final, and Bharat Joshi beat Fry 6-0, 6-1 in the 2.5 men’s singles final.
A total of 75 players competed in the adult divisions of the city tournament. Another 60 played in the junior divisions, which were contested on Friday.
