Photo by Rob Varela

USC's Kaes Van't Hof hits a two-handed forehand during his match against USC teammate Robert Farah in the Pac-10 men's championship at The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament in Libbey Park on Sunday. Van't Hof won 6-3, 7-6 (2) for his first title at the prestigious event.

Photo by Rob Varela

UCLA's Reza Zalameda hits a drop shot during her win in the Pac-10 women's final.

USC senior Kaes Van't Hof has been coming to The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament for 10 years. Each year he showed up at Libbey Park, he looked forward to seeing his father Robert Van't Hof's name amongst the players that have claimed the Men's Pac-10 Singles Championship.

On Sunday, Van't Hof earned his own spot on the championship trophy, defeating USC teammate Robert Farah 6-3, 7-6 (2) to win the Pac-10 men's singles title.

Van't Hof and his father became the first father-son duo to win the men's intercollegiate championship at The Ojai, an event dating back to 1911.

Van't Hof lost in the final three times as a junior player. He said the most gratifying part of Sunday's win was sharing the moment with his dad.

"He's someone that has taught me tennis since I was 3 years old," Van't Hof said. "I played hours with him. You think about putting your name on the board with guys like my dad and Scott Davis, who coached me a little at Newport. He (Davis) gave me a little heat for not having a title, so now I have something to fall back on."

Robert Van't Hof, who won the Pac-10 title in 1978 and 1980, was understandably happy for his son.

"Seeing him win here at Ojai means more to me than the titles I won," Robert Van't Hof said. "He's been in the finals many times, so it was nice to see him finally win one. I'm really proud of what he's accomplished. He's had a great college experience."

Because Farah has such a big serve, Van't Hof said one of his main goals Sunday was to simply keep the ball in play.

"Rob has a big serve, so I just tried to get that back so I could stay in play and keep attacking," Van't Hof said. "If you don't attack him he's going to hurt you."

The strategy worked well for most of the match. The only exception was in the middle of the second set, when Van't Hof's struggled with his own serve, allowing Farah to get some momentum.

Serving with a 6-5 lead, Farah had a chance to send the match to a third set, but he was unable to hold his serve, losing the game with a double fault. That sent the second set to a tiebreaker, where Van't Hof dominated, winning 7-2.

"A lot of people don't understand the significance of this title," Van't Hof said. "Every time I come back, I appreciate being on these courts. In juniors you only get one match here, and you had to work for it and had to earn it. That was my motivation to get on these courts.

" I started thinking about it (the significance) yesterday because I would watch the semifinals of the Pac-10 when I was here as a junior. That motivated me in juniors to get better and to get into the Pac-10 and play well."

While Van't Hof said it was bittersweet to win the title against a teammate, he was glad to win a bet he and Farah had going into the final. They are both members of the same fraternity, so they agreed the loser had to send out an e-mail to all their frat brothers, inviting them to watch the winner beat the loser on Fox Sports West television.

In addition to the singles title, Van't Hof and Farah claimed the Pac-10 Men's Doubles title, defeating Arizona State's TJ Bellama and Matt Brooklyn 6-4, 6-4. Van't Hof joins father Robert, Stan Smith, Dennis Ralston and Wayne Black as the only Trojans to win both titles in the same year.

Former Calabasas High standout Amanda Fink was hoping to accomplish the same feat on the women's side. Fink and partner Gabriela Niculescu won the doubles title, defeating Cal's Marina Cossou and Claire Ilcinkas 7-5, 6-1.

But the junior fell a little short in singles, losing to UCLA senior Riza Zalameda 6-3, 6-4.

The two players have played each other many times over the last few years, including just two weeks ago when Fink won 5-7, 7-6 (4), 1-0 (10-8).

The key to Sunday's match was Zalameda's strong serve and deft volleys.

"I put a lot of emphasis on volleying today," Zalameda said. " It's a big thing for me because not a lot of girls can handle that. I've been working hard on it for the last couple of months.

"My serve was really on and I am so glad I had it. It's such a big advantage to have a big serve. Even though I am short, you can have a big and powerful serve."

Zalameda won the Pac-10 doubles title last year.

"It's a great achievement to excel in both," Zalameda said. "I feel every player should be able to excel in both. Playing doubles as a girl has helped me tremendously with my singles play. My net game, serve, moving forward, it's a great asset to have."

"She was serving and volleying very well today, and she didn't miss many of her volleys, so it makes it a little more difficult," Fink said of Zalameda. "She played some great tennis. When someone has to play great tennis to beat you, it's a good loss."