Rosenthal defends Manhattan title with Wachtfogel

They were the local heroes and top-seeded favorites. Sean Rosenthal and Aaron Wachtfogel, who both hail from nearby Redondo Beach, cruised to the Manhattan Beach Open title on Sunday.

The duo, playing its first tournament together, smoked Dana Camacho and Billy Strickland in the final, 15-4. The 50th anniversary of the sport's famed event, which was hastily organized after the AVP collapsed two weeks ago, featured old-school rules, including a larger court, sideout scoring, and one game to 15 points.

It's the second straight Manhattan title for Rosenthal, who won last year's tournament on the AVP Tour with Jake Gibb, his regular partner with whom he teamed at the 2008 Olympics. Gibb and two-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh were a couple of the numerous AVP stars to boycott the tournament in opposition of the old rules.

Rosenthal and Wachtfogel split $4,000, as did women's winners Tealle Hunkus and Heather Lowe, who downed Kathryn Babcock and Erin Gray, 15-11, in the final match. Winning teams were sharing $20,000 for titles on the AVP Tour before it folded.

The final score notwithstanding, the men's final was an enticing matchup considering Wachtfogel and Strickland have been AVP partners for the past two seasons. Camacho and all the women's finalists are AVP players who typically enter the main draw through qualifiers and receive seeds in the high 20s.

Sticking with tradition, each winning team will be commemorated on the Manhattan Beach pier with all the past winners.