Corona del Mar’s Niels Hoffmann wins prestigious Ojai Tournament tennis title
OJAI — Niels Hoffmann’s eyes widened for just a moment as he saw a familiar name on the trophy.
The Corona del Mar High senior had just won the 122nd annual Ojai Tennis Tournament CIF singles division title Saturday afternoon. As he grasped the Farnam Cup perpetual trophy, he noticed his uncle, Zoran Korac, listed among the previous winners in 1999.
Ojai has always been a special place for the family. Half his lifetime ago, Niels has fond memories of coming up to watch his older brother, Bjorn, play for Cal at the Pac-12 Championships.
“It’s always been a tournament that you look up to, aspire to play at that level,” Niels Hoffmann said. “It’s really cool to know that I’m going to be remembered here in some way.”
Hoffmann’s picture will forever be on the tournament history boards at Libbey Park. The top seed earned the honor, beating No. 2-seeded Lorenzo Brunkow of Palisades High 6-1, 6-3 in the title match.
Hoffmann became the first CdM player since Mike Briggs in 1987 to win in singles “The Ojai.” Not only that, but the Sea Kings also claimed the team Griggs Cup trophy for the first time since sharing it in 2007.
The Griggs Cup goes to the team that has the best combined singles and doubles performance in the tournament. In the CIF Doubles division, CdM seniors Jack Cross and Jonathan Hinkel advanced to the round of 16.
Cross, Hinkel and many more of Hoffmann’s CdM teammates made the drive up Highway 101 on Saturday morning to catch him in action.
“You’ve got guys coming up, driving two hours plus to support a teammate,” CdM coach Jamie Gresh said. “One of the parents was like, did you have them come up? No, they organized this on their own. For them to leave at 5:30 or 6 a.m. to get here is pretty amazing. It’s great teammates, a great camaraderie. The culture of the program is the way it is because of the guys at the top.”
The USC-bound Hoffmann advanced to the final when his semifinal opponent earlier Saturday, Mason Bui of Yorba Linda, had to retire due to injury after Hoffmann won the first set 6-1.
Hoffmann, who won the CIF Southern Section Individuals singles title last year as a junior, had fallen to University’s James MacDonald in the Ojai final last season. Bjorn, who was in attendance Saturday, was a two-time Ojai finalist in 2015 and 2016.
Niels said playing that well in front of his older brother was “about as good as it gets.”
“MacDonald played a great match last year,” Gresh said. “One of [Niels Hoffmann’s] goals was to come back and win this, and it’s not easy being the No. 1 seed. It’s a lot of localized pressure on you. Anything but a title is tough when you’re the No. 1 seed. You’re expected to win, and all eyes are on you. I thought he did a good job of handling the pressure and hanging in there.”
Hoffmann won the first four games of the final on his way to a quick first-set win against Brunkow, a junior and UC Santa Barbara commit. He got frustrated at times momentarily early in the second set, but from 2-2 he played aggressively and won three straight games to put him on the brink of victory.
“I found depth,” he said. “I hadn’t played astounding this tournament, so it felt great to get some depth and get some confidence. My backhand was great today. I returned really well off of it, and I was able to take it [down the] line a few times. My backhand definitely pulled through today.”
Hoffmann had saved a match point in a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 round of 16 win against University freshman Kusa Krishna, winning the last four games of the match.
He and the Sea Kings will head into the CIF Southern Section Open Division team playoffs next week. They are expected to be the No. 2 seed behind the rival Trojans.
Hoffmann, who won the Surf League singles championship earlier this week, said winning at “The Ojai” meant a bit more than the CIF Individuals title last year to him. They are the two biggest individual accomplishments for Southern California high school tennis players.
“I know this is a hot take, but I think this one was a little bit more nerve-racking for me,” he said. “I definitely felt the pressure a lot more. If I would have lost to Uni in the third round, it would have been not a great showing, and being the No. 1 seed is not a great feeling. And it’s further home, right? You lose, you do the drive of shame for three hours. This felt a little bit higher stakes, but they’re both very special.”
Marina duo falls in semifinals
An upstart doubles team from Marina nearly joined Hoffmann in the title match.
Vikings junior Trevor Nguyen and sophomore David Tran lost a hotly contested match against No. 2-seeded Caleb Settles and Mateen Ghafarshad of Claremont, 6-4, 5-7, 5-7, in a CIF Doubles semifinal match Saturday morning.
Nguyen and Tran, the Vikings’ top two singles players, teamed up to win the Surf League doubles championship. They had an impressive run to the semifinals, including a round of 16 win over a team from University and a quarterfinal win over a duo from Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Nguyen, a left-hander, and Tran, a right-hander, were disappointed in the final match result but happy about their tournament. They rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the third set against Claremont to 4-4.
“It was really close and we both started to get tight because of the pressure,” Tran said. “Other than that, we were playing good. The environment is really nice here. The courts are really good. We’re looking forward to next year.”
Beckman’s top-seeded brother combination of Caden and Tyler Lee won the doubles title, 6-2, 6-3, over the Claremont team.
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