After the second public address announcement summoning Jeff Offerdahl to the tournament desk, Jose Martinez grabbed his cell phone for a friendly call to his semifinal opponent.

"Hey, Jeff, we're on," Martinez said.

The message proved half-right.

Martinez was on his attacking power game well enough to whip second-seeded Offerdahl 6-3, 6-3 in Boys 18 singles at the Texas Summer Grand Slam at the Mitchell Tennis Center on Wednesday afternoon.

Fourth seed Martinez earned a spot in the championship match at 11 a.m. Thursday against No. 5 seed Andrew Korinek, who beat Ben Guthrie 7-5, 6-3 in the other semifinal.

Martinez won the first three games against Offerdahl and never trailed. The pair had split four previous matches, and Martinez felt he let both losses get away.

Closing out matches has been a concern for the Houston home schooler, who turned 17 last week and will be a senior in the fall.

In last year's Grand Slam, Martinez lost in the quarterfinal round to David Holiner, who recently completed his first season at the University of Texas. Martinez led the third set 6-5 and was serving at 30-love before suffering cramps and falling 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (4).

"It definitely helped my confidence," Martinez said. "I always knew I could stay up there with those guys if I really put my mind to it. If I had been in better condition, I could have definitely taken that match."

Martinez enjoyed the happy side of a quarterfinal comeback this year. He dropped the opening set and trailed 3-0 in the second set, then rallied to beat Daniel Brown 1-6, 7-5, 6-1.

"I was so nervous," Martinez said. "I was too tight. I told myself that there was no way it was happening to me like last year. I refused to lose. I calmed down and played pretty good tennis. I knew if I just gutted out that second set, then maybe I could be back in my groove."

The semifinal against Offerdahl provided Martinez another chance to deal with big-match nerves. He served for the match at 5-2, but Offerdahl earned a break with a nice backhand return. Martinez bounced back with an emphatic break, winning the match point on a big forehand that Offerdahl could not handle.

"I was a little nervous closing out the match because I couldn't believe I was destroying him so easily," Martinez said. "I was trying to put a lot of pressure on him when he served to stay in the match. On match point I went for it."

Offerdahl, also 17, will be a senior at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin. He made his deepest run at the Grand Slam since winning the Boys 14 singles championship.

Later in the afternoon, Offerdahl teamed with Chase Curry to claim the Boys 18 doubles title with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Stewart Pittman and Brown. Offerdahl will play Guthrie for third place in the singles bracket at 11 a.m. Thursday.

"My goal was to win it, obviously, but I'll try to go win third tomorrow and in doubles later today," Offerdahl said. "If I win those, I'll be good to go into a big summer.

"I didn't play badly. [Martinez] didn't let me play well. He imposed his game, ripping the ball and not letting me get into a rhythm."

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NOTES -- Martinez and Offerdahl are being recruited and hope for scholarship offers from Division I programs. A Baylor coach watched their semifinal match. ... The last local player bowed out of the Grand Slam on Wednesday when College Station's Marco Cepeda fell 6-4, 6-0 to Andre Mercado in the Boys 12 singles consolation bracket. ... The other singles finals matchups for Thursday are: Lilly Kimbell vs. Blair Shankle in Girls 18, Rhiann Newborn vs. MacKenna Maddox in Girls 16, Cassandra Vazquez vs. Gabriella Umoquit in Girls 14 and Will Showers vs. Aron Pierce in Boys 14. ... The only No. 1 seeds left in the championship draws are Showers and Kimbell. ... The top seed in Boys 18 singles, Shane Vinsant of Keller, withdrew from the Grand Slam after reaching the final of last week's U.S. Junior International Grass Court Championships.