Two teams from the Richmond Tennis Association (RTA) earned the right and privilege to represent the City of Richmond in the recent Northern California (NORCAL) Championships.
3.5 Men’s Team
RTA’s dominant 3.5 Men’s team had a record of 10-1 in the East Bay League to place first in the league, playing against teams from Berkeley Tennis Club, Chabot Canyon Tennis Club (Oakland), Claremont Resort/Spa, and Washington Park (Alameda). The team then won the East Bay League Playoff match versus the second-place team from Chabot to earn the right to travel to the NORCAL championships in Sacramento on the extended weekend of August 8-10.
They endured temperatures reaching up to 105 degrees while playing three matches on the 8th and 9th to earn the right to play in the semi-final and final matches on Sunday, Aug. 10. On Friday, Aug. 9, 3.5 National Singles champion, Salvatore (Sal) Marchetti, won the No. 1 Singles line, 6-0, 7-5. The team won all the doubles lines and barely lost the other singles line in a super tiebreaker, 6-3, 2-6, 1-0. On Saturday, Aug. 9, the team won two matches in the sweltering heat 3-2 and 4-1 to earn entrance into the Sunday semifinal and final matches. In the Sunday semifinal match, the lefty-righty pair Marco Valgonio-Young Kim led the way to a team 3-2 triumph with a stirring 10-8 super tiebreak win in their deciding doubles line. In the finals in the 105-degree heat, the team faced a young San Jose squad that came into this final match with an overall 13-2 lines record. Undaunted, they pushed the San Jose team to the limit before losing two lines in super tie breaks before finally succumbing. The San Jose team had well earned their victory.
“Our enthusiastic RTA team players were very proud of the opportunity to represent the City of Richmond well in the NORCAL Finals and earn their championship medallions,” said Garry Hurlbut, president and executive director.
4.0 Men’s Team
The 4.0 Men’s team earned their entry to the NORCAL Championships with an outstanding record of 8-2 in the East Bay League, playing against most of the same clubs as the 3.5 Men plus some others: San Pablo Park and Davie Stadium. They won their East Bay playoff matches versus Chabot and Claremont by the identical scores of 4-1 to earn their way to the Sacramento Championships. They came up against very strong competition on Friday against two teams, losing to the Bay Club of SF and Foster City. They rebounded against the Solano team on Saturday, winning 3-2. Against Solano’s champion, Centennial Park, they were tied 2-2 with Fernando Ramos, playing singles, battling a hard-hitting opponent and triple-digit temperatures. Just two years ago, Fernando was a 3.0 level player still learning the fundamentals of the game. Fernando has played over 800 league and practice matches since 2023, and his rapid rise has caught the attention of the United States Tennis Association, which moved him up to the 3.5 level at the end of 2023 and up to his current 4.0 level at the end of 2024. Fernando proved that he belonged at Sectionals, winning the deciding match 8-6 in a back-and-forth tiebreaker to send us all back to Richmond with our heads held high.
RTA now heads into the fall “Combo” season. “This is the most enjoyable part of the year because we have many friendships between our 3.5 and 4.0 players, and the format of Combo is that one of our 3.5 players plays with one of our 4.0 players,” Hurlbut said. “We will have fun and play hard in hopes of returning to the combo sectionals this winter (we came in second place in all of Northern/Central California last winter).”
