Sect 1 tennis: White Plains' Markowitz is singles champ, Scarsdale's Reis, Saeed doubles

HARRISON — By the time Callum Markowitz elicited anticipatory cheers from a thinning crowd by getting his tough opponent to miss a third-set serve return to put Markowitz up 40-love and at match point, members of the Harrison High marching band had been long gone after several parking lot tours practicing “You're a Grand Old Flag.”

A few seconds later, the cheers were momentarily almost as loud as the spirited band had been.

Markowitz, a White Plains senior and the top seed in the Section 1 boys tennis tournament had, after waiting almost a year, gotten what he wanted – a return trip to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens for another shot at the state singles tennis title.

Truth was, the future Vanderbilt player and Mamaroneck’s hard-hitting Maxim Kalinin, the No.2 seed and Tulane commit who fell to Markowitz 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, were playing Wednesday with house money. Both were assured of playing in next week’s state tennis tournament even before the first serves of the day were hit.

With Section 1 given three slots for both singles and doubles, the same was true of Scarsdale’s Jack Reis and Sam Saeed and their doubles opponents, Horace Greeley’s Adam Fink and Ben Singer.

Reis and Saeed prevailed 6-2, 6-3. But, at least for practical purposes, that was of little consequence.

The only matches where everything was on the line were the battles for third (won in singles by New Rochelle’s Alexander Suhanitski and in doubles by the Mamaroneck pair of Owen Zerbib and Jingyang (Max) Li).

But the certainty of playing at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center wasn’t evident in players’ efforts.

They played like losing meant the end of their seasons.

Markowitz, who, for the bulk of their match, wasn’t nearly as demonstrative as the fiery Kalinin, nevertheless, showed emotion with many points and certainly when closing out the match.

“I needed to win (with him at) love that last game. … One of the biggest points was 30 to 40. Closing out, I didn’t want to give anything away,” he said.

He and Kalinin didn’t completely coast into the final, but almost.

Both had opening byes. Markowitz rolled to the semis having only dropped one game, then had to go three sets for his semis win but only dropped one game in the last two sets.

Kalinin was tested more in his semis match, which saw him win the first set in a tie-breaker, drop the second, then take the third. But that still didn’t seem to compare to how tough the finals were.

Markowitz said he would have preferred to have faced a “little adversity” and to have been “battle-tested” before facing Kalinin. But the lack of that didn’t really seem to hurt the defending Section 1 champ.

He may have played, though, with at least one eye on the upcoming state tournament after finishing fifth last year with a quarterfinal-round loss.

“I knew that wasn’t my best effort,” said Markowitz, who’ll be playing at states for a third time, having first made the tournament as a seventh-grader before taking a a brief hiatus from high school tennis to play baseball.

This year, his goal, like Kalinin’s, is to be the last man standing at states.

Kalinin, who figures he has had a racquet in hand since about the age of 4 and has been playing U.S. Tennis Association tournaments for about six years, will also be making his third appearance at the state meet.

He finished third as a sophomore and sixth last year.

While Division I tennis promises even bigger challenges and rewards, Kalinin would love to take New York's premier high school title.

“It’s how you show up the last two or three days. If I’m playing my best, I can beat anyone there. … It would really be a cherry on top to win states as a senior,” Kalinin said.

Doubles teams seek Section 1 repeat

Reis, a sophomore, and Saeed, a junior, played for state runner-up Scarsdale in last year's state team competition, but this will mark their first appearance at the individual state doubles and singles championships.

Last year, the pair fell in the Section 1 tournament in the quarterfinals.

In fact, their loss came to Fink and Singer, whom they beat Wednesday.

Instead of being intimated by the prospect of facing them in the final, Reis indicated he and Saeed were confident.

“We just decided to play a lot more aggressive. We had confidence. We decided to go for it and have fun this year and it worked out,” Reis said.

Saeed said the two thought they should have won last year but were “young and a little inexperienced” and couldn’t get the needed point at the needed time.

Reis credited this year's win not just to their aggressive play but also to their many hours of teaming together during the past year. The two play doubles together in USTA events.

“Me and him have been grinding a lot this year and are a lot better. … Our chemistry is really good,” said Reis, who has teamed with Singer for a couple of years.

“We know each other’s games We’re both good friends off the court. We’re there to lift each other up in tough moments,” Saeed said.

The two are hoping their Scarsdale team, which finished second to Syosset at last year's states, can repeat as Section 1 team champion. But the Section 1 team championships and the team states are separate events, scheduled for later on the calendar.

Reis said he and Saeed will enter play at next week's singles and doubles state championships more confident than they were during last year’s state team competition.

They expect to know all their possible opponents from club play and will carry, he said, a, “Go for it, no matter what” attitude.

That was also their prevailing and, obviously, successful attitude Wednesday.

“To win the section is a big thing,” Reis said, describing himself and Saeed as “really happy.”

Singer, who’ll play for Trinity College next year, said although being assured of a place at states before the match began, falling to Reis and Saeed was still disappointing.

But he doesn’t expect the loss to carry over to states, where the pair finished fourth last year.

“I definitely think the experience of playing under pressure last year will help,” Singer said.

He said he and Fink, who were runners-up last year for the Section 1 doubles title to eventual state champions Nick Peng and Eli Johnson of Edgemont, will practice hard in the coming week.

Adding he knows the competition will be tough, Singer said he believes he and Fink should be able to take down Reis and Saeed “or any other team” at the state championships.

The state tournament is scheduled to be held May 31-June 2.

Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, basketball, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at @HaggertyNancy.

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Tennis: Markowitz is Section 1 single champ, Reis/Saeed win doubles