Johannes Seeman and Chikaya Sato of San Diego State defeated Calvin Mueller and William Gleason of the University of Nebraska. 7-6 (3), 6-3 in the final of the 134th Pacific Men’s Doubles Championship.
A crowd of several hundred spectators applauded the victors at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club.
Holding up the weighty trophy, Aztecs Chikaya Sato and Johannes Seeman stood flanked by teammates and coaches in the first moments after their victory. The smiling Aztecs were coaches Jeff Thomsen and Gene Carswell (far right), and teammates Alexander Mandma, Bora Sengul, Lenny Melzer, Andre Saleh, Liam Spiers, and Eugenio Gonzalez.
San Diego State doubles teams have won the prestigious event three times in 20 years. Ryan Redondo won the championship in 2003 with Aztec Oliver Maiberger.
Speaking to the cheering spectators, Aztec Johannes Seeman said: “It’s a great feeling. This is one of the tournaments I wanted to win. I’m proud of the win and proud of my partner. It was amazing with a home crowd. Everybody was cheering. The atmosphere helped us.”
His doubles partner, Aztec Chikaya Sato, agreed: “It feels great to win it in front of the San Diego crowd. People didn’t even know my name when this tournament started. Playing in front of the home crowd and my teammates and coming through with a win – it was a great moment.”
Seeman and Sato became the third SDSU Aztec doubles team to win the prestigious doubles title in the last 20 years. Ryan Redondo and Oliver Maiberger won the title for SDSU in 2003 and the Aztec duo of Achim Ceban and Benedikt Stronk won the championship in 2007.
As the final ended, La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club manager Bill Kellogg introduced 2003 Aztec All American Ryan Redondo to hand out the trophies. Kellogg praised Redondo for raising San Diego tennis to national prominence. As director of Youth Tennis San Diego and CEO of the Barnes Tennis Center, Redondo has begun staging ATP and WTA pro tournaments along with its celebrated Billie Jean King national junior girls championships. An international tournament, involving the world’s best junior boys, is scheduled at Barnes later this month.
Incidentally, the 1934 Pacific Mens Doubles tournament was won by Donald Budge and Gene Mako. Go Aztecs!
Johannes Seeman and Chikaya Sato, San Diego State, defeated Calvin Mueller and William Gleason, University of Nebraska. 7-6 (3), 6-3.
of Frankfurt, Germany
Nebraska finalist Calvin Mueller, a German citizen, told Aztec Tennis Reporter that he practices regularly in a Frankfurt tennis university operated by Aztec All American Alex Waske, who played at San Diego State before embarking on a highly successful professional career. Waske often credits Aztec coach John Nelson for helping him believe in himself as a competitor on the international tour. He ranked 19th among all U.S. college players in his final season at SDSU.
