Fairfield Prep's O'Brien Beaten In Class LL Tennis Final

Fairfield Prep senior tennis player Tom O'Brien has faced Daniel Hirschberg of Staples many times in singles play, but it has been a one-sided rivalry.

O'Brien never has beaten Hirschberg, and that trend continued Thursday at the Yale courts as the Wreckers' junior rolled to a 6-2, 6-0 victory in the finals of the CIAC Class LL state tournament.

This was a battle of the top two seeds in the event, but Hirschberg was just too much. He dropped only 10 games in his six matches after losing in the Class LL final last year as a sophomore.

"He kept the ball on the court," O'Brien said. "We had really short rallies and he took advantage of it. He was real consistent. When he needed to make good shots, he made good shots. He stayed in the match. I did the opposite."

The final, originally scheduled for Hall High School on Wednesday, was moved to Yale after being postponed the previous day.

"The best part of my game is staying out there as long as I can and really try to make him hit as many shots as possible," Hirschberg said.

He set on an early tone with a break in the opening game of the match. He also broke O'Brien in the third game of the first set, then added three more breaks in the second.

"(The early break) was a huge advantage," Hirschberg said. "I won the second set easier because I broke in that first game."

The top four players in each of the four classes earned the right to compete in the Open championship, which begins Saturday, but  O'Brien won't be participating because he is playing in a USTA qualifier.

Hirschberg made Thursday's match look easy, although he insisted otherwise, at least initially.

"At the beginning, it definitely was not easy," he said. "I really had to focus on sticking to my strategy because I knew that would work later in the match, but it really wasn't working in the beginning.

 "I think the key was my coach (Kris Hrisovulos) just telling me to keep going, keep going, and that's why I rolled in the second set."

Hirschberg faced a break - his only one of the match - before holding serve in his first service game.

Hrisovulos knew that O'Brien is an aggressive player by nature, so the plan was to break O'Brien's rhytmn by changing the pace. That approach clearly worked, as O'Brien began making too many unforced errors as the match wore on.

"Tommy's body language dropped, and (was) getting frustrated the latter part of the second set,' Hrisovulos. "You could just tell in his mind how frustrated he was getting. You have to give Danny credit. He executed what he had to do. He's been great  all year in big matches against big opponents."

Any chance O'Brien had of getting back in the matched ended when he squandered a 40-15 lead on serve in the third game of the second set.

From that stage, it seemed like only a matter of time. Hirschberg closed out his opponent with a forehand smash on his second match point.

"I definitely frustrated him, got back a couple balls he didn't think were coming back and ended up winning the points," Hirschberg said. "That caused him to try to hit harder and hit it bigger than he normally does."

O'Brien was amazed at Hirschberg's ability to return balls.

"No point's over until the ball bounces twice or hits the curtain," O'Brien said. "He gets to everything. He's just a great player."

O'Brien defeated No. 7 seed Kevin Wu of Simsbury, 6-4, 6-2, in the quaterfinals and No. 6 Bryan Adams of Cheshire, 7-5, 6-2, in the semifinals.