Tej Bhagra of Rochester Mayo defeats Aaron Beduhn of Wayzata for Class 2A boys tennis state title

One. That was the number hovering over Rochester Mayo sophomore Tej Bhagra all season, from his ranking to his seed in the boys tennis individual state tournament.

On Friday afternoon, he let out a few celebratory screams after securing match point for the Class 2A singles title. He could feel the weight lifted off his shoulders as he tossed his racket and pumped his arms in the air.

“Oh, for sure,” Bhagra said. “Obviously, I had something to prove still. Just being one-seed doesn’t mean anything. You have to prove it. I’m glad that I did.”

Bhagra proved it with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 3 seed Aaron Beduhn, a junior from Wayzata, at Baseline Tennis Center on the University of Minnesota campus. Bhagra completed his individual season with a perfect match record and never dropped a set.

It was the third time Bhagra and Beduhn met this season and the second this week, having played at No. 1 singles in the team state tournament. Bhagra won all three times, although Beduhn got off to a much better start in Friday’s title match, using one of the 10 breaks of serve in the match to take a 4-2 lead in the first set behind his game of volleys and overheads.

“It wasn’t a surprise,” Bhagra said. “I knew that he would play well. I couldn’t capitalize on some crucial points, and I know where I went wrong.

“I knew I just had to stick with it. Eventually, I prevailed.”

Bhagra responded with a break of his own and went on to win four consecutive games to take the first set. The match was tight throughout, with long rallies including a lot of volleys and deep lobs. Two games reached deuce five times, with each player eventually holding serve.

Bhagra’s mental game and consistency are a couple of his strengths, according to his coach, Jeff Demaray. But his shot anticipation is the No. 1 strength on the list, Demaray said.

“His anticipation is as good as I’ve seen coaching,” Demaray said. “I thought that made the difference.”

The match lasted about 2 hours, 20 minutes after it started two hours late following a marathon semifinal match of 3 hours, 45 minutes that Beduhn won in a third-set tiebreaker.

“I knew I wasn’t going to have much left, but I gave it everything I got,” Beduhn said. “I don’t know what I would’ve done had I got to the third set.”

The No. 2-seeded doubles team of senior Tanay Panguluri and sophomore Jacob Salisbury from Wayzata won the Class 2A doubles championship with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over top-seeded sophomore Anthony Perrill and junior Quinn Martini from Orono. Salisbury won his first-doubles match in the team competition for Wayzata earlier this week.

The Class 1A final pitted teammates from St. Paul Academy. Zahir Hassan, seeded second, defeated top-seeded teammate Winston Arvidson 6-4, 6-1. St. Paul Academy, which dominated the team competition, also won doubles. Leo Benson and Maik Nguyen topped Carter Reinbold and Charlie Paul of Mound Westonka 6-1, 6-2.