Boys tennis: Fraser controls temper and opponents en route to Beach singles, doubles titles

VIRGINIA BEACH

Cox’s Ian Fraser, who is known almost as much for his temper as for his talent, kept his emotions in check and cruised past teammate Cameron Brawley 6-4, 6-1 to claim the Beach District boys tennis singles title at First Colonial.

The mercurial Fraser evokes memories of John McEnroe for the way he combines remarkable ball skills with a tendency to explode verbally at the drop of a racket. But he was on his best behavior Wednesday, as he held it together through some loose early play before dispatching his fellow Falcon.

“It was kind of tough because the whole tournament everyone was cheering against me,’’ Fraser said. “But that’s OK. Cheer against me. I’m just going to keep doing the best I can.’’

The clear favorite to win this title since the season began, the top-seeded Fraser helped the Falcons complete a clean sweep of the district honors. Cox earned the regular-season team title by going unbeaten in 10 district matches. And later Wednesday, Fraser and Brawley teamed up to defeat First Colonial’s Brian Luke and Matt Taylor 6-0, 6-2 in the doubles final.

Wednesday’s final ended a strong tournament run by Brawley, who used his powerful forehand to outduel No. 2 seed Brian Luke of First Colonial in Monday’s quarterfinals in the match of the tournament.

Brawley even had Fraser on his heels early in the first set, as he battled back from 4-1 down to get within a game at 4-3.

“He had nothing to lose and he came out swinging,’’ Fraser said.

Fraser swung back, though, with huge first serves and some deadly forehands of his own. He closed out the first set by smashing an overhead winner from the baseline, and kept up the assault throughout a convincing second set.

“I don’t think Ian was playing his best, but I also wish I had played as well as I did on Monday,’’ Brawley said.

It was Brawley’s second straight runner-up finish – he fell to Ocean Lakes’ Ben Wirth in the 2007 district final. It was also the fourth time in five years a Brawley has played for the title. Cameron’s brother Austin went 1-1 in his two finals appearances.

Both players will advance to the Eastern Region tournament on May 19-20 in Newport News. Fraser will open against the loser of Friday’s Peninsula District final pitting Heritage’s Tonique Merrell, the two-time defending champion, and Menchville freshman Graham Wilson. Brawley will play the winner of that match.