2015 Mass States Doubles Champions Crowned In Climactic Finals Night  
by Rob Dinerman

Dateline May 7th --- Trailing two games to one after dropping the third game 15-14, the top-seeded Roberts brothers, Dan and John, determinedly fought their way to a hard-earned 14-15, 15-12, 14-15, 15-8, 15-10 victory over second seeds Doug Lifford and Max Montgelas late Monday night in the final round of the 2015 Massachusetts State Open Doubles championship at the University Club of Boston. The Roberts brothers, partners on the SDA pro doubles tour and each a pro at a downtown Boston club (John at the Harvard Club of Boston, Dan at the Union Boat Club) thereby successfully defended the title they had won a year ago over the same final-round opponents, in the process creating some positive momentum coming into the biennial World Doubles in Chicago, where their first-round match this evening will be a rematch against Greg Park and Preston Quick, who eked out a 15-14 fifth-game win when these teams met the last time that event was held, in New York in 2013.

   The Mass State Open final was the second match of the night --- and an eerily-detailed mirror image of the first --- for John Roberts, who a few hours earlier with partner (and Harvard Club of Boston pro-shop colleague) Sharon Bradey had led Graham Bassett and Fernanda Rocha 2-1 (after similarly winning the first and third games 15-14!) in the Mixed Doubles final before being narrowly overtaken in the final two games. After dueling with each other on the right wall for well over an hour in this Mixed Doubles final, Bradey and Rocha then partnered each other to the Women’s Open title later in the evening at the straight-game final-round expense of Hope Crosier and Mary McKee. Rocha thus became the only player of the night to win two Mass States finals matches.

   However, she and Bradey and John Roberts were by no means the only players who were IN two finals in this culminating night of the Mass Doubles season, by the end of which no fewer than nine doubles teams were crowned champions. Amrit Kanwal and his son Deven, recently-ensconced winners of the U. S. Father & Son 13-and-under flight, edged out Charlie Humber and Cole Koeppel, 15-13 in the fifth (on a forehand roll-corner winner by Deven on match-ball) in the B final, then immediately went back on court to take on Chris Spahr, the head pro of the host club since 1999, and his daughter Caroline in the Parent-Child final. By the end of the second game which his team lost to go down two games to love, those seven consecutive games were taking a toll on Amrit Kanwal, who was cramping badly, and when they then fell behind 8-2 in the third, their straight-game fate appeared to be sealed.

   Remarkably, the Kanwals rallied to win that game 15-12, though the Spahrs then closed the match out with a 15-10 fourth game, a nice complement for Caroline Spahr to the U. S. Father & Son title that her Dartmouth-bound older brother Carson had won with their father a few weeks ago. Shortly after the Parent-Child final had ended, Chris Spahr, his heel still barking from a months-long bout with plantar fasciitis, had to return to the court to contest the 50’s final with  partner Scott Poirier, in which they fell in four competitive games to top seeds Greg Zaff and Andrew Slater. The Siblings title was awarded via walkover to Cole Koeppel and his brother Jake when their scheduled opponents, JJ and Will Hearty, had to be out of town on a business trip.

   In the 60’s final, Malcolm Davidson and his septuagenarian partner Tom Poor, who had won a five-game semifinal over John Brazilian and Len Zide, survived a tight 15-14, 11-15, 15-14, 15-11 final against top seeds Sandy Tierney (who since mid-February had won the Century Doubles with Steve Scharff and the U. S. and Canadian 60’s with Sean McDonough) and Joe Duffey, with Tierney tinning a drop shot at 14-all in the first game and Duffey missing an overhead on simultaneous-game-ball in the third. And finally in the C final, Cole Koeppel and his father Seth won a four-game final over Curt Lefebvre and Josh Grodin. Of the eight matches played, only one was decided in straight games, and all but one had at least one 15-14 game. With all those five-game finals, rallies from two-one down, simultaneous-game-balls and prolonged points in front of packed and vocally engaged galleries, the final ball (an expertly-angled forehand cross-drop off Dan Roberts’s racquet that died in the front-left) wasn’t struck until shortly after 10 PM, leaving virtually everyone in a state of happy exhaustion as they exited the building onto Stuart Street to begin the off-season.


2015 Mass States Finals Summary:


Men’s Open: Dan Roberts/John Roberts d Doug Lifford/Max Montgelas, 14-15, 15-12, 14-15, 15-8, 15-10


Women’s Open: Fernanda Rocha/Sharon Bradey d Hope Crosier/Mary McKee, 15-11, 15-14, 15-6


Mixed: Graham Bassett/Fernanda Rocha d John Roberts/Sharon Bradey, 14-15, 15-13, 14-15, 15-11, 15-12


50’s: Greg Zaff/Andrew Slater d Chris Spahr/Scott Poirier, 15-10, 14-15, 15-10, 15-10


60’s: Tom Poor/Malcolm Davidson d Sandy Tierney/Joe Duffey, 15-14, 11-15, 15-14, 15-11


Parent-Child: Chris/Caroline Spahr d Deven/Amrit Kanwal, 15-14, 15-12, 12-15, 15-10


Siblings: Cole/Jake Koeppel d JJ/Will Hearty, walkover


B: Deven Kanwal/Amrit Kanwal d Charlie Humber/Cole Koeppel, 8-15, 15-13, 9-15, 15-9, 15-13


C: Seth Koeppel/Cole Koeppel d Kurt Lefebvre/Josh Grodin, 15-13, 14-15, 15-13, 15-10