One familiar and one new face were the stories of the 2003 YMCA Men’s Singles. Cesar Sala bested Robert Sostre 25-21, but Jonathan Lee stole the show when he knocked out the number one seed, Joe Kaplan. Kaplan had moved into a new house on the previous day. While he felt fine before the match, his body started showing the effects once the match began. Lee impressed the crowd with his serve and kill shots. The spectators made a mental note to remember the young man's name, despite his 25-8 quarterfinal loss to Willie Polanco.

Cesar Sala survived a comeback by Kendell Lewis, who had tied the score at 17 all, to earn a 25-17 victory and then handled a tired Polanco in the semifinals, 25-4. Meanwhile Robert Sostre defeated the multi-talented Albert Apuzzi 25-8. Apuzzi, coming off a successful indoor season where he and Polanco captured the HES & YMCA doubles back-to-back, wasn't looking sharp for singles play yet. 2002 National Champion PeeWee Castro beat Francisco Carbuccia by a respectable 25-14 score.

The win matched Castro against Sostre in the semifinal. Sala said he expected to face Castro in the finals and was preparing himself mentally for Castro’s tough serve. Sostre started out gaining a 10-point cushion, but Castro closed the gap to 14-16. At this point Sostre regained the momentum and ended the match 25-17.

Two well-matched athletes with a friendly rivalry and similar styles were now slated to square off in the finals. Capitalizing on his opponent’s early season mistakes and making quality serves resulted in a hard fought 25-21 win for Sala over an obviously fatigued Sostre.

Sala was jubilant after capturing his first singles tournament in a year, and said that he is dedicating himself to recapturing the National title. His latest performance shows that he is the man to beat in 2003.

Cash awards were split between the top four places. Thanks to Artie Fuchs for serving as the site director.

Click for YMCA Drawsheet (PDF)

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