Not everyone knows everything about every one of the players in the men's 45s and 55s. Every once in a while someone springs up to pull a few surprises.
Unfortunately for Bountiful's Clark Robinson, that person popped up in the second round of the Wendy's Men's National Indoors at the Canyon Racquet Club, and in his same bracket."I came here expecting a tough match," said the veteran tennis player, "and I got one."
How tough? Try only two service breaks, one each, with Robinson's coming first in the first set, then Rich Anderson of Southern California, breaking back as Robinson was serving for the first set at 6-5.
The end result was two tiebreakers with matching scores, neither very favorable to Robinson . . . 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-1).
Anderson came to Utah with no national experience. But, word from the Southern California area was he was good, that he'd won 14 of the last 16 tournaments he'd entered there.
Robinson entered the event as the No. 4 seed and recognized as the runner-up in last year's 45 indoor national.
Joseph Rush of Seattle also came in with little background in national-level play. It was known that he was the No. 1 player among teaching pros in Seattle. In the third round of the men's 45, Rush scored an impressive win over No. 8 seeded Bob Siska of California, 6-3, 6-4.
Niesi Sie, also from California, posted the biggest upset by beating No. 3 seeded Len Saputo of California, 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (14-12).
Top seed Keith Diepraam, winner of the event last year, and Dick Johnson, the No. 2 seed, both won in straight sets.
In the men's 55, one Utahn and one former Utahn are still alive. Dale Miller of Oklahoma, who lived in Salt Lake City a few years back, beat Fred Chin of Georgia, 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-2. In the opening round Miller beat the No. 8 seed.
Fritz Heinecke of St. George, won the battle of the locals. He beat Jim Hembree, 6-2, 6-1.
Here, too, the two top seeds won easily. John Powless of Wisconsin, beat John Sahratian of Southern California, 6-1, 6-1, and No. 2 seeded Chuck Devoe, of Indiana, runner-up last year, beat Everet Wills of Idaho, 6-1, 6-2.