THUNDER BAY – For nearly three hours Jeremy Langer left everything he had on the tennis court.
Langer survived sweltering sun, cramps and a feisty opponent to claim the 41st annual Port Arthur Family Dental Mid-Canada Open men’s singles title with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Serge Oliver Becerra in the final at the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre Sunday afternoon.
The 25-year-old only had time for a celebratory roar and handshakes with Oliver Becerra and the chair umpire before vomiting seconds after clinching the winning point.
“At one point in the first set I started to cramp and I knew if I wanted to win I would have to go through war mentally and physically,” Langer said in an interview following the match.
“I was willing to be out here all day to win. I was expecting it. I played him in the finals of the last tournament and he beat me there and I think the reason was I wasn’t mentally tough and I wasn’t willing to stay out there the whole time. (Sunday) I made it a priority to do that.”
With temperatures in the neighbourhood of 30 C and humidex values at about 35 C, the two players got the match started with a marathon first set that went for nearly two hours.
Nearly every point was won after a long rally with the two opponents battling from the baseline, daring the other to make a mistake.
Oliver Becerra, the tournament's top seed, showed strong defence, forcing Langer to often hit an extra shot to win the point when he went on the offensive.
“There are no freebies from him. He actually likes counterpunching and I knew I was going to have to hit extra shots and I knew I would have to play well,” said the No. 5 seeded Langer.
The two showed nerves early on as Oliver Becerra took an early 2-1 lead after three straight service breaks. There were four breaks in the first six games of the set.
At 4-4 Oliver Becerra had two looks at a break that would have allowed him to serve for the set but Langer was able to fight them off, ultimately holding with an ace.
In the next game Langer had his first chance to take the set by squandered it after shanking a forehand, with Oliver Becerra holding after a lengthy series at deuce.
Despite the hold, Oliver Becerra started to become unraveled as the chair umpire drew his ire on a couple of close line calls, as well as after issuing a formal warning following a profanity laced outburst.
Langer held easily in his next service game and closed out the set, breaking Oliver Becerra at 15-40 after a backhand found the net.
The heat started to take a toll on Langer as he called for a five-minute injury timeout at 1-1 in the second due to cramping, angering Oliver Becerra because on the professional circuit those timeouts are normally not granted unless it’s a changeover.
Oliver Becerra came out of the timeout on fire, easily breaking Langer and consolidating it with a hold for a 3-1 lead.
That lead didn’t last as Langer broke back to get even 4-4 and Oliver Becerra, whose vocal encouragements to himself began to get more desperate, continued to melt down.
Langer went up 5-4 after a pair of aces, the latter Oliver Becerra didn’t even make a move on. Then at 30-30, a close call off a net cord set off Oliver Becerra as the chair umpire refused to overturn an out call. The match ended on the next point as Langer’s volley was too much to handle.
Langer, a former NCAA collegiate tennis player for the University of Indiana Hoosiers, downed last year’s finalist and No. 2 seed Dusty Boyer in the quarterfinals before advancing past 2011 and 2013 champion and No. 3 seed Tony Larson in the semifinals after he retired in the second set.
After graduating in 2012 the Richmond Hill, Ont. native had stepped away from the sport for two years before beginning to play again competitively this summer. He plans on playing in some Futures events later this year to start earning world ranking points.
Langer also captured the men's doubles, teaming up with Jesse Flores to down Dusty Boyer and Andrew Dzulynsky in three sets. Kim Christopher captured the women's singles title after Jackie Cychosz retired at 4-4 in the first set. Jordee Matson and Elizbeth Guy were the women's doubles champions defeating Christopher and Cychosz.
