Mikael Maatta and Jan Tribler go for a rare three-peat in tonight’s final of the 43rd annual Creative Energy/Blue Moon Men’s Night Doubles.
Friday at Kailua Racquet Club, Maatta and Tribler took out Minh Le and Wei Yu Su 6-4, 7-5 in a sequel to last year’s final. The former Hawaii Pacific All-Americans, who lost five times in the final, now have a chance to become just the third team to win here three times in a row.
The late semifinal was delayed by a rain squall before top-seeded Michael Yani and Dennis Lajola won 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 over fourth-seeded Ikaika Jobe and Thomas Shubert.
Lajola has played on the pro tour the past two years, since his decorated University of Hawaii career came to a close. He won the 2009 and ’10 Night Doubles titles, with Jobe.
Yani played for Duke and is also on the tour. He was ranked as high as 143rd in the world three years ago.
After losing to Le and Su "like 18 times," according to Maatta — it was actually three straight finals — he and Tribler have found a way to poach them the past two years.
They won in straight sets in last year’s final to successfully defend their first title and did it again Friday, barely, to get a chance at a third.
Le had six set points serving at 5-3 in the second. The 30-something financial analysts swatted them all away.
Tribler took care of three, including a volley that prevented the ball from lodging in his rib cage. Maatta terminated two.
In between, Le double-faulted once and terrorized Tribler with his serve.
"I think they felt they had to serve it out, and when they didn’t, it shifted completely in like five seconds," Tribler said. "Mika made like four returns in a row and I made one out of eight. … It’s always two or three points, always tough."
After the seventh deuce, Tribler launched a lob return and Maatta ended the point at the net, then drilled a return winner down the line.
The Swede won his serve and, after a Su ace, he and Tribler won four straight points to go up 6-5. The hourlong set ended when Su’s half-volley hit the tape, hesitated, and fell back on his side.
"They kept getting the ball back and we missed a couple of our opportunities and that’s it," said Su, a former Brigham Young-Hawaii All-American. "It was a very close match."
It usually is. Le, who played professionally in Asia after a college career at Cal, and Su won tight finals over the HPU alums in 2006 and ’07, then blew them away the following year.
Times have changed. All four are working full time now. Tribler will get married next month and Su and Maatta have infants.
Playing part time only reinforces Maatta and Tribler’s strategy of staying in points as long as humanly possible.
"We need to make them play, stretch the points out," Maatta said. "Win or lose the point, we need to keep more balls in play. That stresses them out when they have to serve. Big difference."
The opening set was dramatically less dramatic. Maatta and Tribler hit two balls in the net and missed two service returns. Beyond that, they were practically flawless for 27 minutes.
They broke Su at love in the fifth game, taking the first point on a trio of lobs and Maatta’s volley.
Le and Su had one break point and Tribler aced it.
In Thursday’s quarterfinals, Lajola and Yani defeated qualifiers Alex Aybar and Jeff Fitch 7-5, 7-5, and Jobe and Shubert beat fifth-seeded Jared Spiker and Rong Ma 7-6 (7-3), 6-2.
