WEST WINDSOR – Cresskill’s Chikaya Sato took his best shot against defending champion Robert Siniakowicz in Thursday’s NJSIAA singles tournament finals. Unfortunately for the Cougar ace, it was like punching a brick wall with his fist.
Siniakowicz, the Brown University-bound star from West Windsor-Plainsboro South, used his howitzer serve and forehand and a long stretch of nearly-flawless play to beat Sato 6-4 and 6-2.
“It’s tough,” Sato said. “Rob is very fit and he can run on forever. He just grinds out points. You think you hit a winner, but he’s already there pushing it back. It was just great playing by Rob.”
Last year, Siniakowicz had a much easier time beating Sato in the semifinals. In that match, Siniakowicz’s first serve was this difference as he launched two aces in the first game and was never broken en route to a 6-3, 6-1 win.
In their rematch, Sato turned the tables on Siniakowicz early on, nailing two aces of his own in the opening game and then breaking Siniakowicz’s serve to go up 2-0. Sato rolled out to a 4-1 lead and piled up three aces and seven service winners in those five games.
“My serve’s definitely gotten a lot better,” Sato said. “My motion was a little bit weird last year, but now it’s simpler and more compact. There’s less margin for error. Plus I’ve probably gotten a little bit stronger, too.”
“I wasn’t really surprised,” Siniakowicz said. “I know how good Chikaya can serve and how good player he is. Those first few games sort of woke me up a bit, though.”
Once the West Windsor-Plainsboro South bear was awake, he was unstoppable.
In Game 6, Siniakowicz canceled Sato’s early service break with his own. Siniakowicz was in the zone from that point on, winning 11 of the match’s final 13 games. Unofficially, his unforced error tally over that extended stretch was a microscopic four.
“I did well to get to a lot of balls and keep them in play,” Siniakowicz said. “That puts a lot of pressure on my opponent. It’s not always easy to do, especially against a great player like Chikaya. So I’m proud of my limited errors today.”
While Siniakowicz nearly eliminated his mistakes, Sato’s piled up as the match went on. In the latter part of the first set, Sato barely missed a good number of attempted winners. In the second set, his first serve started letting him down and he missed on two or three dozen standard shots.
“Rob definitely upped his game and I got a little more nervous for some reason,” Sato said. “I started missing more and more shots.”
After losing to Siniakowicz twice in two years, one would think Sato has seen enough of him. But Sato said, “I wish I could play him against next year. But I’ll probably see him again down the road when we’re both in college.”
With Siniakowicz off at Brown, Sato will be one of the favorites to inherit his crown.
“Chikaya has a bright future ahead of him,” Siniakowicz said. “Maybe he’ll win this tournament next year. I’ll definitely be rooting for him.”
“Hopefully,” Sato said. “But you never know what’s going to happen. Some new kid could come along. But we’ll see.”
