There are all kinds of luck in this world, especially in the "City of Lights." But it might have been a bit of bad luck that helped Andy Roberts edge the 1997 Foxwoods IRT Pro Nationals title from Sudsy Monchik at the Las Vegas Sporting House in late April.

the line-up ...
roberts vs. monchik
gould vs. paraiso

VIVA LAS VEGAS: Lightspeed at Pro Nationals
by Kevin Vicroy

Monchik, who lost to Cliff Swain in last year's finale, was challenged right off the mark by Joe Paraiso in the Round of 32. Paraiso forced the tour's No. 1 player into a deciding fifth game in their early round, in which Monchik won 11-7 to advance. From there, Suds rolled past James Mulcock (7-11), 11-2, 11-6, 11-5; Drew Kachtik 11-4, 11-3, 11-7; and John Ellis in the semifinals (12-14), 11-3, 11-4, 11-4.

The anticipated "all-Staten Island" semi-final match up between Monchik and long-time junior doubles partner Jason Mannino was foiled by #13 Tony Jelso, who upset #4 seeded Mannino (6-11), 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 in the round of sixteen. In the next round, after a pre-match game of H-O-R-S-E on the Sporting House basketball court in which most of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas basketball team plays, Jelso and Ellis put on a tremendous show for the capacity crowd in their quarterfinal.

Jelso, who lost the first game 11-2, stole games two and three by scores of 11-5, 11-9 before Ellis regrouped to finished out the match, winning the final two games 13-11 and 11-5. Later, Ellis started out strong against Monchik in their semi, taking a 14-12 first game win, but failed to hold onto his edge as he was shut out by Monchik in the remaining three, 11-3, 11-4, 11-4.

The bottom half of the bracket played out as seeded, where Cliff Swain, the 1995 and '96 Pro Nationals winner, cruised through his first three matches without dropping a game. The Boston native met pro tour veteran Mike Ray in the quarters and sent the #7 seed away with an 11-1, (7-11), (8-11), 11-5, 11-5 loss.

In the semis, Swain met up with the winner of the tour's "player who most resembles a linebacker" award — Andy Roberts. In actuality, Roberts was recruited by several Division I football schools to play tight end out of high school.

On the smaller field, Roberts had little trouble with his first four opponents — Oscar Macias, Jason Thoerner, Michael Bronfeld and Mike Guidry — to earn his berth in the semis of the pro nationals for the third consecutive year. There, the Swain-Roberts bout was perfection to behold, and ticket holders poured into their seats well before warm-ups and rarely moved after the first serve was driven.

Swain took games one and four by identical scores of 11-7, while the 6-foot-3, 215 lb. Roberts captured the middle games 11-7, 11-9, respectively.

Neither player would allow the other any breathing room in the fifth game, but Roberts eventually came out on top with an 11-9 win. "Cliff and I have had great matches for the past 10 years. There's no reason to expect anything but."

"He's a great player," Swain said of Roberts." We always have great matches. It's best for the crowd that way."

Later, leaning on his car in the parking lot, a disappointed Swain explained why his tournament had come to an abrupt end. "I was missing too many easy shots, plain and simple. I missed too many free points."

roberts vs. monchik

Now the stage, or more aptly – the ring – was set for Roberts vs. Monchik.

It was a perfect setting, amidst the Vegas neon, for Monchik's brash, Muhammad Ali-type confidence to spark his Southern opponent. In Roberts, it was a crafty veteran with power, control and most of all, mental strength who posed the challenge. The match opened as a re-enactment of the 1996 Promus Hotel Corporation U.S. OPEN final — with Sudsy coming away with the first two games, 11-7 and 11-8.

In the third, Roberts caught the 22-year old New York sensation a bit sluggish, and took advantage of the slump to win 11-3. Then, down 9-8 in the fourth, Monchik jammed his ankle into the back right corner of the court ... starting his run of bad luck.

After an injury timeout, Monchik lost the next two points, along with game four 11-8. The fifth game resembled the 15th round of a heavyweight championship, as Monchik hobbled around the court, getting to what he could. At the same time, Roberts was branded by painful cross-court forehands to the back of his legs. One right after another.

Neither player was about to give any ground.

Then, with the advantage at 10-9, Sudsy was set up with a perfect backhand plum for the match. And blew it. Side out. "He had a match point and skipped an easy ball," Roberts said. "I knew, at that point, the match was mine." Indeed it was, as Roberts finished off the IRT's top- ranked player 12-10, earning himself the 1997 Pro National title and a $15,000 first prize.

the women

Despite her own rash of recent injuries, Michelle Gould captured her seventh women's pro title by defeating fellow U.S. Team member Jackie Paraiso 11-1, 11-8, 11-6 at the Foxwoods WIRT Pro Nationals in Las Vegas.

After an undefeated WIRT season, the Boise, Idaho native showed some signs of wear early on by uncharacteristically losing the first game of early matches against Kerri Stoffregen in the round of 16, and then again to Lydia Hammock in the quarters. But in both instances, Gould rebounded to win; Stoffregen fell 11-7, 11-2, 11-5, while Hammock was blown out 11-0, 11-2, 11-4.

The other side featured #2 seeded Cheryl Gudinas and #3 Jackie Paraiso. Gudinas advanced past Debbie Fiordino, Tammy Brockbank and Randi Friedman in straight games to reach the semifinals. Historically a runner-up to the top-ranked Gould at almost every pro stop, Gudinas defeated her first three opponents by an average game score of 11-3.

Coming into the tournament, Paraiso had not finished beyond the semis in any of this season's WIRT events. The El Cajon, Calif., native reached her final four spot by downing Lorraine Feeney, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4, in the round of 32, then '95 Pro Nationals champion Marci Drexler, 11-1, 11-5, 11-7, and unseeded Kersten Hallander, 11-13, 11-3, 11-3, 11-5.

Unlike the men, the women were scheduled to play their semifinals on Saturday morning and their final that evening, making for an exhausting day for Gould and Paraiso. The fact that each semifinal match went to the maximum five games only compounded matters.

For the third consecutive round, Gould lost her first game. This time to #4 seeded Laura Fenton, 11-5.

During that first game, the defending tour champion pinched a nerve in her forearm when her racquet inadvertently took on a bit too much of the back wall.

"I couldn't feel anything from my bicep to my hand," Gould said following the match. " I was trying to swing with no feeling in my arm and that's difficult. I can usually hit the ball off of one foot and rely on my arm for power, but I felt like I had no sense of control."

From being on top of the tour for so long Gould has learned to play through difficult circumstances — and did.

Fenton fell in game two, 11-7, then clawed her way back to take the third, 11-9. But soon after starting the fourth game, Gould asked for, and was awarded, an injury timeout. A tactical move or not? Either way, it was apparent that Fenton was disturbed when a regulation timeout was not called.

"I let her get into my head," the Lincoln, Neb., native said, "then I got really upset with myself and didn't play well." Gould recovered to take games four and five, 11-3, 11-4, respectively, to advance into the finals.

"It's very heartbreaking," Fenton said of her narrow loss. "I feel I can beat her, but it's my own fault. I know she felt the pressure and I really had a rhythm going. Then I got tired and lost my focus. It's really frustrating."

The other semifinal featured a Paraiso-Gudinas contest.

The two had met on three occasions this season, each time in the semifinals and each was won by Gudinas in five games. So, after splitting games one and two, Gudinas pulled out the third, 11-7, and it came as no surprise that the Californian took game four to force a fifth and deciding game. It was how she did it that caught the capacity crowd off guard.

"She was serving really great in that fourth game," Gudinas said of her opponent. "I got beat 11-0. Her serves were literally "cracking out."

Paraiso agreed, saying, "I think I aced her on nine out the 11 points in game four. I was really focused."

Still hot, Paraiso stormed out to a 7-1 lead in the final game, only to see the tour's #2 ranked player launch a comeback to move into an 8-7 lead.

During her timeout, brother Joe Paraiso offered some advice. "He came back here and mentally slapped me around a little bit. That helped get my adrenalin flowin', it made me more focused."

Whatever he said worked like a charm, as Jackie returned to the court to win the last three points and the tiebreaker, 11-8.

gould vs. paraiso

As the finals have gone all season (with all but the first event in Annapolis, Md.) Gould claimed her title in a rather anti-climactic fashion — in straight games of 11-1, 11-8, 11-6.

"I've been playing her pretty well this season, except for the last few times," Paraiso said following the finals. "I just didn't focus well today. When I focus, I play very well against her."

When asked about the difficulty of playing, and winning, with the distraction of pain, Gould responded by saying, "Sometimes you need to block everything out and focus the best you can. You're not always going to play your best and things aren't always going to turn out the way you want them to. But you have to learn to deal with every situation that comes along."

Even in defeat, a gracious Paraiso agreed.

"My arm has tendonitis, and I've got rotator cuff problems, but everybody does [have injuries], and we all play our best out there. That's what makes a champion."

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