Top-seeded Barnett passes toughest test

Right from the start, Wesley Barnett said he knew his opposition would get tougher with each round of the United States Tennis Association Southern Closed Boys and Girls 16’ s Championship.

True or not, he continued to make his progress look almost easy through the first four rounds.

His quarterfinal round was different. Barnett, 16, of Little Rock, was at odds early and only perseverance and tenacity enabled him to reverse course, get even and finally pull away to a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Justin Waldman on Tuesday.

By the end of the 2-hour, 27-minute match, Barnett said his current fitness level served as the tiebreaker.

“I knew in the third set, that my condition was above his,” he said. “But he’s definitely tough.”

“He came up clutch,” Waldman said. “All credit to him. He played some good points to come back. I knew coming in it was going to be a battle.”

Boys and girls quarterfinal matches were delayed 30 minutes and moved from Rebsamen Tennis Center in Little Rock to North Little Rock’s Burns Park Tennis Center after morning rain.

The site was different, but not nearly so much as the doggedness of Barnett’s opposition.

Waldman, 16 o f Acworth, Ga., had never won any of the handful of matches he has played over the past five years with Barnett, but Barnett said the current version of Waldman was unfamiliar to him.

“He was night and day from what he used to be,” Barnett said. “He used to get everything back but not hit them too hard. He swings hard now. He was definitely tough.”

Waldman’s improvement was evident in the first set, though he sounded almost apologetic as he explained the outcome of his early play.

“I was dictating points, but I knew that he was favored to win,” Waldman said. “He’s the 1 seed. He’s the hometown favorite, and he has pressure. I was swinging freely. ”

Waldman was ultimately undone by cramps in his right quadricep, an ailment he said was once common to his game.

Waldman was served 15-30 but Barnett’s fitness advantage was clear. Waldman seemed nearly incapable of a response to Barnett’s return. Trailing 15-40, he finally succumbed to a limp. Barnett won the game, dominated his subsequent serve to go up 3-0 in the deciding set, and called for a trainer.