Chico tennis fans might boast one day that they witnessed Sunday's final between 17-year-old sensations Ryan Harrison and Filip Krajinovic, even if the match between the unseeded players at the Chico Racquet Club & Resort lacked drama in the 103-degree heat.
Harrison outlasted his friend and rival from the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Fla., 6-3, 6-4 in the $15,000 Balbutin's Chico Pharmacy Tennis Classic.
But the implications of the players' first professional final are profound.
"I've always had complete belief in myself to make it to the top," Harrison said. "He feels he can, too. He's one of my toughest competitors. Hopefully, one day we'll be playing in the Wimbledon final instead of the Chico final."
In April 2008, Harrison joined Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet as the only 15-year-olds to win a match on the ATP Tour, the major leagues of men's tennis, in this decade.
Harrison, a Shreveport, La., native, beat then-No. 95 Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay on clay in Houston. Cuevas won the French Open doubles title two months later.
Harrison will leave soon for Croatia, where he'll serve as a practice partner for the U.S. Davis Cup team.
Bollettieri, who has coached Andre Agassi and other Grand Slam champions, wrote in a British newspaper last year that Serbia's Krajinovic (pronounced Cry-in-o-vich) "is going to be a hell of a player. … He reminds me in a lot of ways of Andre Agassi, except Andre was not so comfortable at the net."
Neither Harrison nor Krajinovic had lost a set entering Sunday's final. Krajinovic foot-faulted to trail 5-3 in the first set and faded in the second set to fall to 2-1 lifetime against Harrison.
"I felt bad the whole day," said Krajinovic, who called for the trainer after holding serve in the opening game of the second set. "I didn't eat well. It's no excuse. He played better and deserved to win."
– Paul Bauman
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