Artzt Wins OPRC Summer Tournament Men’s Open Singles

By Mike Holder:

In a physical match that took nearly two hours to settle, Greg Artzt defeated Claes Persson 7-6, 6-3 to win the OPRC Summer Tournament Men’s Open Championship. It was an entertaining match that featured high-quality shot-making as both players battled and left it all on the clay.

Persson was fast off the blocks in the first set behind his solid groundstrokes and steady play. He jumped out to a 3-0 lead and looked to be heading to a quick result in the set. However, Artzt began to battle back with the turning point of the set coming in the fourth game. On the verge of falling to 0-4, the former Cornell University standout found himself engaged in a much needed, extended, physically challenging game that tilted back and forth from game point to break point. Finally, he was able to break through to get on the board. 

The game appeared to shift the tide as Artzt used his quickness, aggressive hitting, and timely net play to work himself back into the set. However, Persson would respond and the two seemingly traded one big shot after another. Persson would find the set on his racket serving at 6-5 but fittingly, in a set of ebbs and flows, Artzt broke serve to force a deciding tiebreak. There, he parlayed the momentum of the break to win the tiebreaker at 7-3, and the set.

After the hour-long first set, the two settled into the second with even more physical play as each held serve through the first six games. However, at 3-3, Artzt broke through with a service break and did not look back winning the remaining games to take the set at 6-3, and the match.

Artzt reflected afterward, “As always with Claes, it was an exhausting and fun battle that came down to just a few big points. He started off solid out of the gates and took the early lead.  I had to fight just to get back into the match.” 

“The second set started off with some brutal, physical points as well,” he said. “And if not for guzzling the 2 bottles of Hydro Helix my friend Fred Robinson provided, I’m sure I would have run out of gas.  I was fortunate to take it in 2 because a 3rd would have given Claes the clear advantage.  I look forward to taking on the challenge of this amazing club tournament again next year!”

The Final concluded a tournament that began with 48 players competing in a group stage round with the top two in each filtering into the championship draw.

*Correction* - In a previous recap of the OPRC Summer Tournament, the result of the Men’s Doubles 9.0 Final was reported incorrectly. It should have read that Rick Sherwood and Justin Beverley defeated Frank Martin and Mehmet Karakus 6-2, 6-4, not the other way around. My apologies to all involved.


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