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Sports

Staples' Hirschberg Wins State Open Tennis Title

The Wreckers' standout, who is headed to Brown in the fall, defeated Foran freshman Bradley Orban 6-3 6-3 in the final

Danny Hirschberg had been like a machine, steamrolling his way through the CIAC Class LL and state Open tennis  tournaments, but he admitted to being tight early in Wednesday's final match against Foran freshman Bradley Orban.

Hirschberg overcame those jitters to defeat Orban 6-3, 6-3 in the state Open final at the Yale courts. The match, originally scheduled for Hamden, had been postponed from Tuesday.

The Staples' senior badly wanted to win this tournament because it was the only event he hadn't won during his spectacular high school career, which included two Class LL crowns. That likely explained his nerves against a  player three years his junior.

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Hirschberg wasn't able to play in the state Open last year because of final exams.

"I knew going into it that it was my last high school match, so I wanted to play well and I think just wanting to play that well made me play not so well," said Hirschberg, who is headed to Brown in the fall.

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Orban, a surprise finalist, was coming off a 6-2, 6-4 win over Griswold's Brandon Roode in the semifinals.

"(Hirschberg) is older, he's a very smart player, very consistent," Orban said. "He just has that over me, he's more experienced than me."

Still, Orban can take some satisfaction from the fact that he won six games off Hirschberg, the third-ranked player in New England, according to Tennis Recruiting.

That's more than anybody else won in 10 matches against Hirschberg in the Class LL and state Open events. Seven of his victories came by 6-0, 6-0 scores, including the first three in the state Open.

Hirschberg won the first two games Wednesday and broke Orban three times in the opening set, but still had some difficulty putting away his opponent.

Hirschberg was broken twice himself and needed six deuces to finally win the final game of the first set after Orban fought off four set points.

The Staples' standout  seemed frustrated at times in the first set and showed more emotion on the court than he normally does.

"I wanted to come out and play my best tennis for my last high school match and wasn't able to do it, so it  definitely made me a little frustrated," he said.

The second set went smoother as the Westporter jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Orban, showing no signs of intimidation  against the state's top player, held serve, then  broke for the third time to get within 5-3.

"I've been playing well, I had some good wins," Orban said. "I wasn't going to come out and just get killed by him."

Hirschberg answered with his sixth break of the match to close things out. In the end, his repertoire of shots wore down Orban.

"I think it was just defense," Hirschberg said. "I made him hit a ton of different types of balls, a lot of different slices, a lot of high balls, and that definitely through him off. That's definitely why I won the match today."

Before beginning his college career, Hirschberg now looks forward to a busy summer, which includes the clay court nationals in Florida starting on July 15.

He will play for New England in the team nationals in Illinois (beginning on July 29) and from there, he'll go to Kalamazoo, Michigan for his final appearance in the junior national tournament.

 

 

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