Poway Native Bradley Klahn Falls at ATP Tour Event

For Poway native and reigning NCAA champion Bradley Klahn, the dream run at the SAP Open, an ATP Tour tennis event in San Jose, came to a screeching halt Thursday.

After winning his first round doubles match Wednesday with fellow Stanford teammate Ryan Thacher, the pair were back on center court Thursday afternoon to play the team of Alejandro Falla of Colombia and Xavier Malisse of Belgium. Unable to contend with the strong serves of the ATP Tour veterans, Klahn and Thatcher won just six points in their return games as they fell to a 6-0, 6-2 defeat.

“We definitely weren’t as sharp as we were in our first match,” Klahn said. “It’s all about taking away any positives with this type of experience though, and the fact that we won a round yesterday was a huge accomplishment.”

Although Falla and Malisse were ranked lower in doubles than the opponents Klahn and Thacher played in the opening round, it’s due to the fact that they rarely play doubles on the ATP Tour. Malisse won the doubles title at the French Open in 2004 with Olivier Rochus.

The Belgian was easily the strongest of the four players on court at the beginning of the match. A pair of forehand passing shots from him allowed him and Falla to break Klahn’s serve in his opening service game. Two games later, an ill-timed double fault from Thatcher sent the Stanford duo down 4-0.

While Malisse and Falla held serve easily, Klahn and Thacher seemed continued to find trouble in their own service games. Klahn reached deuce in his second service game with a forehand volley winner, but a backhand winner from Malisse in the deciding point of the no-ad game wrapped up the 6-0 set in just 20 minutes.

“Even though the first set looked pretty easy, you can’t take anybody for granted at this level,” Falla said. “They beat a good team in the first round and he (Klahn) won a round in the US Open last year, so we kept thinking they could find their game at any time.”

Returning to the court with more energy, Klahn and Thacher begin to find the range on their shots. A pair of aces from Thatcher finally put the Stanford duo on the board in the second set, while a difficult pick-up volley from Klahn in their next service game helped them win the deciding no-ad point to level the set at 2-2.

Firing serves consistently over the 120 MPH mark, Falla and Malisse continued to remain untested in their own service games and didn’t face a break point the whole match. This allowed them to swing freely in their return games and continue to apply pressure against the rookie team.

They finally got the break they were looking for when a missed forehand volley from Thacher sent them down 4-2. Two games later, an overhead winner from Falla sent up triple match point. Klahn managed to saved two of the match points, but poked a backhand volley long to wrap up the contest.

“It wasn’t like they had a huge weapon we couldn’t handle, but they played very high percentage tennis and did everything they were supposed to do,” said Thacher.

Their win in the first round will move Klahn’s ATP doubles ranking up from #453 and #375. Although his quarterfinal showing and first round singles loss this week netted Klahn almost $6,000 in prize money, he will forfeit all of it in order to retain his amateur status and continue to play for Stanford.

Klahn and Thacher are next scheduled to compete in a tie against UCal on Saturday afternoon.