Newman Airs It Out in Oh Zone : Tennis: Serve is key as Chatsworth sophomore falls in City singles final.

STUDIO CITY â€”  To hear Chatsworth High tennis player James Oh describe it, one would think he was thoroughly embarrassed by top-seeded Noah Newman of Marshall on Thursday in the semifinal round of the City Section individual championships at the Racquet Centre.

Oh would lead you to believe he lost, 6-Oh, 6-Oh.

“He’s a lot better player than me--he’s always been better,� Oh said. “He never has an off day. He’s a good player. He crushes every ball. I had no confidence.�

Oh, but it wasn’t so bad. Newman beat Oh, 6-3, 6-3.

Yes, Oh was overmatched. A sophomore who entered with a 7-3 record, Oh holds a modest suggested seeding of 43rd in the 16-and-under division on the Southern California junior’s circuit.

Newman has much loftier credentials: the No. 2 ranking in 18s and a record of 19-0 this season in high-school play.

But Oh held his first three serves to keep pace at 3-3 with Newman, an attacker with powerful ground strokes.

In the second set, Oh broke the first three serves of Newman, who broke back three times. Again, 3-3.

In each set, Oh, so close.

Newman, a junior who transferred to Marshall from Montclair Prep, broke Oh’s serve to lead, 4-3, in the first set. He hit a blistering backhand winner off a lob by Oh to lead, 30-0, and hit an overhead smash on break point.

Newman held serve to lead, 5-3, and Oh double-faulted at set point.

“I rushed a little bit, and I guess I was rushing my serve too,� Oh said. “I was pretty nervous. The [pro-Newman] crowd got to me.�

Oh needed a strong first serve to stay in the match. But his serve betrayed him again in the second set when he double-faulted six times, twice on game point.

Oh didn’t collapse, however. Instead, he frustrated Newman by disguising shots, often hitting in unexpected directions.

“I should have done that more, actually,� Oh said. “I should have played more of a strategy game instead of just rushing.�

Newman, who was brilliant at hitting winners on the run, seized control again in the seventh game with two backhand winners and a service winner to lead, 4-3.

Oh’s serve failed him one more time. A double-fault and two ground strokes into the net made it 5-3. Then Newman closed it out, using one of seven aces to set up match point, on which Oh hit a backhand wide.

In the doubles final, Kevin Kim and James White of Granada Hills fell to Jason Ebin and Danny Westerman of Palisades, 6-1, 6-2. White and Kim, a Highlander tandem the past three seasons, entered the match with a 22-3 record.

“Both of us weren’t really on today, which is unfortunate because today was the day,� White said. “The wind played a little factor on my serve. I had trouble keeping it in.�