WACO, Texas — Maxi Homberg is not afraid to grind out a long rally. Oklahoma's Jordan Hasson learned this the hard way on Tuesday night.
After fighting off two break points up 2-1 in the second set, Homberg served on the ad side and dug in. Three forehands from the Pepperdine junior set up a backhand, then the rally evolved. Although the tension rose in the longest rally of the match, Homberg appeared to settle into a groove, firing off of backhands and forehands on both sides of the court before returning to his backhand on the ad side.
Homberg knew he had Hasson right where he wanted him.
Finally, after hitting a slew of five backhands, Homberg capped off the minute-long rally with a forehand pass that Hasson returned long. Winning that long rally was paramount for Homberg, who prevailed 6-3, 6-4 in his first-ever NCAA Singles Championship match at Baylor University on Tuesday night.
"It was a turning point," Homberg said. "I felt like if I could hold serve in that game, it would be a turning point," Homberg said. "I was definitely kind of nervous, but I was just trying to focus on the basics. I thought he couldn't really hurt me, so I tried to stay calm. I really like long rallies, so I was feeling good in that rally."
Fittingly, Homberg won nearly every long rally of the match. Relying on his athleticism along the baseline and versatility with his forehand and backhand, the Pepperdine junior went up a break early in the first set, then responded well to Hasson in an entertaining second set. The win was Homberg's third consecutive straight-set win of the fall.
Early nerves were apparent in the battle between two first-time NCAA Singles Championship competitors. Thankfully for Homberg, the score didn't show it. Aided by two double-faults from Hasson, the junior from Freising, Germany went up a break in the second game. However, Hasson broke Homberg in the third game, then Homberg broke back to put the match on serve. By the fifth game, Homberg settled into the match and served with confidence, as he consolidated the break with an ace to take a 4-1 lead.
The match was played on serve from that point forward, and Homberg won the first set 6-3 with an ace.
But the second set provided more dramatics from the get-go. In a harbinger of things to come, Hasson held on deuce point to open the second set, then Homberg held serve in his first service game of the set. Yet Homberg landed the first punch of the set by winning a break point in the third game, setting up a decisive fourth game.
Despite falling behind 40-15, Homberg fought off two break points to force a deciding point. After persevering through the longest point of the match, Homberg held serve for a 3-1 lead, which turned the tide of the match.
"I felt like he couldn't hurt me," Homberg said. "I thought it would be important to focus on the right shots and determine when I could be aggressive. It was a very important point, so I was very happy to win that one."
To his credit, Hasson would not go quietly. Responding to losing the deuce point, Hasson held serve in the fourth game to regain momentum before the penultimate changeover. But to win the match, Homberg needed to win one final deuce point. Trailing 30-15 in the seventh game, Homberg moved everywhere along the baseline on intermediate rallies, took a 40-30 lead off an ace, then won an 11-hit rally to hold on deuce point.
Hasson held serve in the ninth game, then Homberg served up 5-4 out of the final changeover. Although Hasson won the first point of the final game, Homberg quickly forced the first match point before the Oklahoma senior saved it. Then Homberg hunkered down for one more long rally.
"I definitely felt a little nervous about it," Homberg said of the final game. "I realized that he was trying to do something different to put pressure on me, so it was really good that I won that point. I don't know what would have happened had we played that deuce point."
In a battle between two of the better mid-major programs out west, Homberg will face Denver junior Raffaello Papajcik in the second round tomorrow at 1 p.m. local time (11 a.m. PT). This will be the first-ever meeting between the two players. Should Homberg win, he will become the first Pepperdine player to win multiple NCAA Tournament matches since
Alex Sarkissian made his run to the 2014 finals.
All NCAA matches will be livestreamed via ESPN+ and will have color commentary from Cracked Racquets. Pertinent links can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
RESULTS
Singles First Round
Maxi Homberg (PEPP) def. Jordan Hasson (OU) 6-3, 6-4
