Willing puts finishing touches on back-to-back city tennis singles championships

QUINCY — Zach Willing finally got to finish what he started.

A year ago, in the championship match of the men’s open division of the Quincy City Tennis Tournament, Willing took the first set from Ryan Schnack and led 1-0 in the second set when Schnack, a three-time city champ, was forced to retire with a calf injury.

Although Willing embraced his first city championship, being unable to finish it on the court left a little bit of a void.

That’s filled now.

Using a series of powerful groundstrokes, the Quincy University junior beat his collegiate coach, Ethan Arns, 6-1, 6-2 on Sunday morning at the Greeman Tennis Center in Reservoir Park for back-to-back titles. Better yet, he finished it the way he started it.

“After last year, after not finishing it, I was like, ‘Hey, I actually want to finish one,’” Willing said. “So it feels pretty good.”

Doing so against a player he hits with constantly, has squared off against in previous city tournaments and has learned so much from makes it just a little sweeter.

“Playing Ethan is always fun,” Willing said.

Arns is heading into his third season as the QU head tennis coach, but despite some pre-match joking around about extra running for Willing should he win, the coach and player didn’t make prop bets on their match.

“No,” Willing said. “No, no.”

For good reason. Willing’s game continues to improve.

Last year, in the semifinals of the city tournament, Willing beat Arns 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 by being patient and strategically choosing when to be aggressive. This time, he was aggressive with his forehand and controlled the match from start to finish.

“He won the big points when he needed to win them,” Arns said.

He did so without a big, booming serve.

“My serve really wasn’t the best,” Willing said. “I had to be creative and move him around the court a little bit to set up better positions since my serve really wasn’t working. Once he started figuring out how to combat that, it became trying to get the ball in good spots and make him work even more to get me more opportunities.”

Arns fell behind 5-0 in the second set before attacking the net and taking back-to-back games from Willing. It was too little, too late as Willing finished the match on serve.

“I felt smooth, feet felt good,” Willing said. “Everything felt good except for the serve. I was a little tight in the stomach. … Overall, I’m happy with it. It’s been a goal for a long time to win this tournament and doing it back-to-back is special.”