There were an abundance of story lines as the pros came to Cleveland January 9-12 to kick-off the second half of the IRT season. Could Ellis make it two in a row? Could Sudsy Monchik, said to have been disinterested in Denver the previous month, recapture the momentum that was his leaving Memphis in November? And what of the best player on the planet, Jason Mannino? Could anyone derail his march to a season ending No.1 ranking? And then there were the young guns, Kane Waselenchuk and Jack Huczek, neither of whom attended the previous stop in Denver? Waselenchuk has battled inner-ear problems since October and Huczek seems to be having trouble recapturing the success he enjoyed last season. Well, the fans of Cleveland were anxious to see how these scenarios unfolded, and indeed, they showed up in droves, even packing the Severance Athletic Club for the early qualifying round.

The hometown folks were rewarded on Thursday evening as three local players made the cut and earned spots to play in the round of 16 the next day. Hard-hitting Mike Dennison, and Baldwin Wallace students Andy Hawthorne and Shane Vanderson proved their mettle as they won matches and earned shots at the best in the world. 

Sixteens
In the 16s, the draw pretty much played to form as all the top seeds advanced with the exception of Rocky Carson, who lost to Mike Green in four. Green, a recent Harrow signee, was steady throughout, mixing in an effective array of passing shots and right corner pinches.

While the fans would like to have seen one of their own make a run on Friday, it never materialized. Andy Hawthorne got in a few licks against Kane Waselenchuk but the Canadian can turn it on and off like a faucet and that’s what he did once he got accustomed to his surroundings, which took about 40 minutes. Once Cliff Swain measured up Mike Dennison’s photon drive serves the match was, for all intents and purposes, over. Dennison did score 10 one game, but it was as if Cliff was doing the crowd a favor. Finally, Shane Vanderson was Jason Mannino’s first opponent of the weekend. Shane’s got a great left corner splat, but unless it was perfect, the JMan was there to gobble it up. Shane couldn’t find a serve that bothered the top seed either. Jason took care of Shane in about an hour. 

Quarters
Jason Mannino then held a clinic for Jack Huczek, who couldn’t figure out how to attack a man with no weakness. Short lobs were buried in the front left corner, numerous times. More often than not, Jack thought he had passed Jason, only to see Mannino flick the ball to the ceiling and return to center court and wait. Huczek did have a couple of opportunities to grab game one, and in fact led 10-7, before missing an easy forehand at the dotted line. It was all downhill from there, as the Mannino Clinic proceeded to a 10, 7 and 3 finish.

At precisely 5:30 Kane Waselenchuk took to the main court against fellow Canadian Mike Green. Green, looking right at home in his new sponsor garb, did a lot of head shaking as the wonderkane displayed not only a blistering array of forehands, backhands and splats, but a deft touch as well. Many in the crowd had never seen the kid play, but by the end of the evening, they were shaking their heads, too. Kane tidied everything up in 40 minutes, 11-6, 11-2, 11-9.

John Ellis defeated Alvaro Beltran (6), 6, 9, and 4 in a rematch of the Denver final a month earlier. It looked like Beltran’s night early on but in game two Ellis found a groove and dominated the rest of the match.

Earlier in the week, when folks had first eyed the draw, they couldn’t help but notice a possible match up if everything went to form: Monchik vs. Swain. This was Ali-Frazier. Affirmed-Alydar. Or perhaps even, Agassi-Sampras, for much like last years US Open in Tennis, it’s hard to know how many more times this sort of match might come together. On this night, both players were healthy, hungry, and “on.” Between them, they own the season-end top ranking in each of the last eleven tour circuits. 

It deserved to be a Saturday or Sunday match. It was standing room only, and the crowd (including many fellow pros) was electric from the get go. Cliff had trouble finding a serve early but stuck with the hard stuff, finally getting an ace to Sudsy’s forehand to make it 1-4. Suds stuck with high- and half lobs to Cliff’s backhand, and the game see-sawed as the players traded blows like Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa. Down the stretch, Cliff became steadier to win game one, 12-10, with a Z drive, and a skipped return. The crowd went berserk. 

In game two, Cliff gained confidence to make it to 5-3 with two forehand kills, but Suds couldn’t care less and charged right back, grabbing a 6-5 lead with a no-look backhand pinch that caused jaws to drop. Two winners off weak lob returns took him to 9-6 and Swain battled back with three straight winners before Monchik regained the serve with a forehand flat rollout. Swain missed a gimme to make it 10-9 and Sudsy finished him off with a high lob, followed by the irretrievable backhand pinch. 

In the third, Suds raced out to a 5-1 lead, but Cliff caught up, 4-5, with a forehand pinch. From here on out neither man held a lead of more than a point. An avoidable on Cliff at 9-10 — when his serve kicked out and Monchik hit him on the return — raised boos but ref Jason Thoerner upheld his call. Back on serve, Sudsy went up 2-1 after he rekilled a set up return from Swain. 

Swain found his groove in game four and jumped to 7-0, but an unfazed Monchik quickly brought it back to 3-8 and then 8-8 with five unanswered points. After three chances at 10-9, Cliff finally succeeded in sending the match to a fifth game with a backhand winner too low for Sudsy to retrieve. The crowd went crazy, not really caring who might win but rather that there would be another game!

Unbelievably, both players had scored equal points in the first four games and Thoerner had to re-flip a coin to begin the fifth. Monchik won the toss and seemed to smell blood as he went up 5-1 on winners and two unforced errors. The lead widened to 7-2 with a close up backhand kill, and Swain grabbed the serve a couple of times, but his hard Z had worn out its welcome. At 3-8, with the crowd pulling him along, Swain went to work, scoring with a Z that finally stuck to the back wall, a backhand winner down the line, a forehand pinch winner and a forehand off the back wall that rolled out. With his lead narrowed to 8-7, Suds looked back at Cliff and the crowd, then muttered, smiling, “I don’t know what to serve.” After getting the serve back (at 9-9 when Cliff missed an eye-level shot at 39’) Suds earned the final two points on a down the line winner and a skip. An appreciative crowd saluted the players with a standing ovation, recognizing one for the ages. 

Semifinals
Fans had hoped for another classic when Kane Waselenchuk and Sudsy Monchik took to the court for Saturday’s first semifinal. These two hit the ball as hard as anyone and it was apparent in warm ups; their shots made noises that many had never even heard before. Games one and two were all Kane, who appeared ready to make quick work of Monchik. He was having success with high lobs to Sudsy’s forehand that nicked the sidewall perfectly. In addition to hitting the ball hard, Waselenchuk’s soft hands displayed artistry, with numerous McEnroe-like drop volleys that died up front in the corners. We knew the kid’s forehand was gifted but the backhand looked rock steady too. 

In game three, the crowd pleaded with Sudsy to “bring the heat” and it appeared to pay off with a 7-3 lead. But Kane wouldn’t go quietly, and he brought it back to 7-7 with a number of nicely placed lob serves and re-kills of left up fodder. The crowd though, solidly in Monchik’s corner, pushed him to an ace-serve ender. 

Game four began with Kane believing they were still playing game three. He had thought that the ace serve had been short, and couldn’t believe that Thoerner hadn’t made the call. The non-call seemed to stick in Kane’s head for the first half of game four as Monchik took a 7-4 lead. Waselenchuk recovered to bring it to 8-9 but Sudsy forced the tiebreaker with a forehand overhead from 39 feet and kill shot for point 11. 

The rally of the tournament took place at 2-0 in Waselenchuk’s favor, when both players went to the floor numerous times to save seemingly unretrievable passes. An overhead pinch by Monchik finally ended the rally and the crowd was stunned. At 2-2, Kane asked for divine intervention, but it wasn’t to be. Sudsy pulled away, earning a spot in the finals with an 11-6 win.

Mannino and Ellis had a tough act to follow, but after Jason dove five times in the first rally, the crowd realized that it was in for another treat. Jason moved out to an 8-4 lead mainly on the strength of his deadly left front corner pinch. But Ellis replied with six unanswered points, including a climb of the wall in the back forehand corner, then finished with a backhand winner to close it, 11-8. 

Both players made a series of runs in game two; Ellis gaining a 4-0 lead, Mannino battling back to pass it at 6-4. Ellis answered to 9-6 and had opportunities to grab a commanding 2-0 lead … but Jason has never seen a ball he couldn’t get. He closed the gap to 9-9 and grabbed game two, as his relentless diving ability and half lobs to John’s backhand took their toll. 

Game three was all Jason as he brought the momentum along. With the rekill game going, he gained a 9-0 lead in just a matter of minutes. Playing Jason is like water torture. He forces you to be too fine, leading to pressure and left up shots. John kept battling, but fell, 11-3. 

The number one seed wasn’t about to let a finals appearance with his buddy Sudsy Monchik slip away. His relentless style of play continued through a close game four, with John holding a 9-6 lead at one point, but Mannino left the impression that he would get it done in crunch time. And he did, winning the fourth,13-11. 

Final
Okay, so the final was a letdown … but it had been a blast getting there. Sudsy Monchik seemed out of sorts and couldn’t seem to get anything going. Some guessed it was a sore leg of some sort, as he wasn’t getting a lot of balls. Others speculated that his arm must have been sore, since the drive serve stayed in the trick bag [see sidebar on page 25]. 

But the fact remained that the guy had come off back-to-back tiebreakers with Cliff Swain and Kane Waselenchuk, and then had to face Mannino. Even Batman would have a tough time battling the Joker, the Penguin and Mister Freeze, back-to-back-to-back. 

The match was a four-gamer but truth be told, there was never any doubt. Credit goes to Jason Mannino, who just can’t be rattled. “Irretrievable” is not in his vocabulary. And he’s a much better killer of the ball than people give him credit for. He may also be one of the few players on tour that are not intimidated by Sudsy Monchik. Every time he takes the court, he expects to win. He may be able to hold onto the No.1 spot for quite awhile.