Tennis: Duesler seeks senior tennis double

Richard Dunn

HUNTINGTON BEACH - In the tennis division of knee braces and spin

shots, Newport Beach’s Bob Duesler, a rookie in the 65s this year, is

hoping for a double whammy.

Duesler, a retired high school teacher, will play in the singles and

doubles title matches today in the men’s United States Tennis Association

National Hardcourt Championships at Lindborg Racquet Club.

In the 65s doubles semifinals, Duesler and longtime partner Jim Nelson

(Irvine), both of the Palisades Tennis Club, defeated Dick Doss of

Newport Beach and Jim Perley of Coronado, 7-5, 6-3, Friday to advance.

Duesler and Nelson, who together have won more than 150 USTA gold

championship balls, are seeded first in the division and will face No.

2-seeded Lenny Lindborg of Laguna Beach and John Powless of Dallas, in

today’s 2 p.m. final.

Lindborg, owner of the host club, is also a regular doubles partner

with Nelson.

“Yeah, Lenny wins the (USTA) Grand Slam last year (on hardcourts,

indoors, grass and clay) and then he dumps me,” Nelson quipped.

Actually, the agenda has been for Nelson and Lindborg to play one year

of doubles in each division as they move up the ladder, then Duesler, a

year behind, catches up and usually plays with Nelson for four years at

each level.

Duesler, the top seed in the 65s singles, will play No. 3-seeded Jim

Landin of Naples today at 10:30 a.m. in the title match. Landin defeated

second-seeded Nelson in the semifinals Friday, while Duesler beat No. 4

Tom Springer of Cloudcroft, N.M., 6-2, 6-3.

“(Springer) started real slow and I got up, 5-love, in the first set,

then it was even the rest of the match,” Duesler said.

Nelson, who captured his third career Grand Slam in 2000 in the 65s

with Lindborg, was hoping to face Duesler in the singles final.

“I was up, 2-love, in the third set, but then (Landin) got six of the

next seven games,” Nelson said. “He played well and I just didn’t

produce.”

In doubles, Nelson and Duesler, both members of the Daily Pilot Sports

Hall of Fame and widely considered the area’s foremost senior tennis

players, needed to rally to get past their semifinal opponent, Doss and

Perley, who enjoyed a 4-2 lead in the first set.

“(Doss and Perley) could volley real well and they hit a lot of crisp

shots, then we went to the lobs,” said Nelson, who has been described as

a “surgeon” on the court by Lindborg.

Added Perley, who was within earshot of Nelson’s comments after the

129-minute match: “Yeah, and they (hit lobs) knowing we can’t run back

... some friends.”

Perley wore braces on both knees, while Doss wore one knee brace.

In the first set, Nelson executed a perfectly placed lob, landing just

in front of the baseline, for the game-winning shot at 2-4. It triggered

a comeback, in which Duesler and Nelson would break their opponents three

straight times, winning five of the last six games.

But Doss and Perley got the momentum back in the second set, going up,

2-love, with Perley serving at 40-love.

“Then we (came back and) broke them,” Nelson said. “That was big.”

Duesler held serve to square the set, 2-2, and Nelson and Duesler

broke Perley’s serve for a 3-2 edge.

Nelson and Duesler, who play the angles and slices as well as anyone

in senior tennis, had a streak of seven straight USTA national doubles

titles together in 1982 and ‘83, coming within one victory of

back-to-back Grand Slams.

They won the Grand Slam in 1982 in the 45s, then in 1990 Nelson won

his second Grand Slam, playing with Lindborg in the 55s. Nelson and

Lindborg did it again last year, winning the USTA Hardcourt

Championships, the indoor title at Seattle in August, on grass in early

September at Seabright, N.J., and on clay in late September at Knoxville,

Tenn.

In other action Friday, Newport Beach’s Irv Goldberg and Jerry

Robinson advanced to the 60s doubles final, while Newport Beach’s Mike Lo

and Gene Nalbandian lost in the 60s quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-1, to George

Sarantos (Fresno) and Bob Jones (Irvine).