Night Doubles: Lajola, Yani seeded first headed into main draw

Blue Moon Men’s Night Doubles is a well-catered two-week party at Kailua Racquet Club, complete with cowbells, kazoos and wigs. Twice a night, some of the best tennis in Hawaii breaks out.

The main draw of the 43rd annual Men’s Night Doubles starts Sunday. Qualifying began a week ago. Spectators — some 7,000 annually come to watch, eat and soak up the ambience — have already reached main-draw decibels.

The top eight qualifying teams will be slotted into the main draw after tonight’s final match. The qualifiers take on teams such as three-time champs Minh Le and Wei Yu Su, and Mikael Maatta and Jan Tribler, who beat Le and Su to win their second straight title a year ago.

All those titles don’t add up to a top seed this year. Former Rainbow Warrior Dennis Lajola, taking a break from the pro tour, is back home with tour buddy Michael Yani, who has played Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. They are seeded No. 1 and open Sunday at 7:15 p.m.

"It’s good to be competing again and playing in front of a Kailua Night Doubles crowd," said Lajola, who hasn’t been in a competitive match since February. "It’s really fun and I’m always excited to play when I get a chance."

Lajola, who lifted Hawaii to its first three conference championships, got as high as No. 535 in the world last year when he was training with Michael Chang. But his frame is similar to the relatively small Chang and his body has taken a beating.

Lajola says he is healthy now and "scrambled to find a decent partner" late.

"I was lucky enough to get Yani to say yes," Lajola said. "When you see him play, he is rock solid off his backhand. He hits the ball flatter, but rarely misses. He has a good forehand, good all-court game. You don’t get into the top 300 without being solid."

Yani, 32, was ranked in the 100s last year and comes here at No. 395. He was born in Singapore, but played four years at Duke and now calls North Carolina home. He fits in perfectly with Night Doubles’ cosmopolitan atmosphere.

Lajola, 24, was born in the Philippines but grew up here. He left in high school to train on the mainland, them came home to become UH’s first WAC Player of the Year. He has been touring since 2011.

Maatta, 37, and Tribler, 35, were born in Sweden and Denmark. They moved here more than a decade ago to play for Hawaii Pacific, where Maatta was inducted into the Hall of Fame last year. Both are financial analysts who play only when they are training for the Triple Crown of Tennis, a doubles series whose winning team receives a wild card into Hawaii’s USTA Pro Circuit event.

This year’s Triple Crown winner goes to the Royal Lahaina Challenger in January. Heading into the third and final event, the leaders are Rong Ma and Jared Spiker with 21 points — one more than Ikaika Jobe and Michael Wojnarowicz. Ma and Spiker won the Oahu Club stop, while Maatta (18 points) and Tribler (15) captured the Hawaii Pacific event. Jobe and Wojnarowicz reached both finals.

Maatta and Tribler have dominated doubles here the past two years, after falling in four straight Night Doubles finals (2006-09). The last finals loss came against Lajola and Jobe, who won in 2009 and ’10.

Since then, no one has touched the 30-something financial analysts whose cross-training includes squash and martial arts.

"We don’t practice as much as maybe we should," Maatta said last year. "We try to keep our fitness up. If our fitness is OK, we can compete." Lajola remembers.

"They’ve both got great hands and they are pretty talented," he says, "so they are always going to be good."