By Angela Watts
Managing Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
** Look below the story to find dozens of video highlights from Tuesday’s match.
The match itself was all but decided by the time Stuart’s top-seed, sophomore Justin Shane, and Fairfax’s top-seed, junior Sidarth Balaji, began to heat things up in the decisive, third set during Tuesday’s Northern Region tournament team semifinal.
Fairfax had already gotten two-set victories from freshman No. 2 Jason Luu, senior No. 3 Cezar Constantine, senior No. 4 Derek Bannatyne and senior No. 5 Eric Steinfeld in singles play. The lone Stuart victory came from No. 6 seed Deniz Babaoglu, who rallied from a 7-6 loss in the first set to shut out Rebel sophomore Gabriel Lin, 6-0, 6-0, in the final two sets for the victory.
Still, Babaoglu’s performance wasn’t nearly enough for the Raiders. So as their fellow teammates, coaches and parents began to flock to the far court at Sleepy Hollow Bath and Racquet, where the pair of standout underclassmen were battling, the predominant question simply became who would prevail in that singles match.
This is the oddity that defines sports like gymnastics, swimming, tennis, track and wrestling: They are as much individual as they are team-oriented.
And these two individuals — Shane and Balaji — are among the Northern Region’s best.
“It is an individual sport, but what’s great here is that you have a couple of elite players who have opted to also play for their high school teams,” Fairfax Coach Dave Bauer said. “Because you also have a couple who have not. There are a couple of very good players in the region who are not playing for their high schools. I mean really, really good players. National champions. But then, you have Sidarth and Justin and [Robinson senior standout] Drew Courtney who are elite players who have chosen to do so because they enjoy the camaraderie. They want to be a part of a team.
“The catch is, like you see right now: Justin and Sidarth are used to winning all of their matches. But one of them isn’t going to win today, and they’re going to have to rely on their teammates to pull them through.”
And Balaji, whose teammates had already given him a huge head-start, sealed the Rebels’ team victory by gutting out a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Shane. The pair, who have met a half-dozen times in the past six months in high school and tournament play and have split victories, ran each other ragged, took turns firing blistering serves and, ultimately, gave each other well-deserved kudos on the court.
“It’s always been close,” Balaji said of his friendly rivalry with Shane. “The last four or five times its always gone three sets. He usually plays well against me; he has good ground strokes. And I play well against him. Today I was setting up with my forehand and then coming to the net putting balls away.
“It’s always a good match-up. I like playing Justin.”
Both Balaji and Shane remain alive in the region’s individual singles play, but only Fairfax advances to the semifinal round of the team competition, which is scheduled to resume today. But it’s Robinson, the defending Virginia AAA state champion, that remains the clear favorite to re-claim both the Northern Region — and state — titles.
“The last couple years Robinson has just dominated,” Bauer said. “They’re better than most college teams. And unless something bad happens to them, they’re going to win again this year because they’re just too good.”
Email: awatts@digitalsports.com
TUESDAY’S RESULTS
Singles:
No. 1: Sidarth Balaji (Fairfax) def. Justin Shane (Stuart) 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3
No. 2: Jason Luu (Fairfax) def. Daniel Santos (Stuart) 6-0, 6-0
No. 3: Cezar Constantine (Fairfax) def. Abdul Al-Hogbani (Stuart) 6-1, 6-2
No. 4: Derek Bannatyne (Fairfax) def. Dee Jay Bletso (Stuart) 6-4, 6-4
No. 5: Eric Steinfeld (Fairfax) def. Soham Banarjee (Stuart) 6-1, 7-5
No. 6: Deniz Babaoglu (Start) def. Gabriel Lin (Fairfax) 6-7, 6-0, 6-0
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