Super Bowles in Lexington:: ITF Tennis - Juniors

Super Bowles in Lexington:: ITF Tennis - Juniors ~~~

The subject of that clever headline is Clint Bowles, who won the Chanda Rubin Grade 2 in South Carolina (who knew they had a Lexington in that state too?) on Sunday. In the final, Bowles, who turns 17 next week, avenged his recent Tulsa loss to Mateusz Kecki, defeating the 15-year-old Californian 6-4, 6-4 to capture his first ever ITF singles title. When I saw Bowles win the USTA 2005 Spring Championships in 18s, I learned how good his best tennis can be, but despite some notable success in doubles this summer, he had been in something of a slump.

The report I heard (from an actual eyewitness, not someone who wrote the story from London) confirmed that the Cohen - Albanese semifinal match was as riveting as the 7-6 in the third score would indicate, and it is impressive that Albanese could then take on nemesis Madison Brengle (who beat her in last year's 16s final at the Eddie Herr) and dispatch her in straight sets in the final. I'm not sure where Albanese is this week, but Brengle got a wild card into the $75,000 WTA event in Pittsburgh, where she's taking on Australian veteran Nicole Pratt of Australia today. At 32, Pratt is more than twice the age of Brengle, who at 15 has already won a Futures event this year.

The doubles winners get short shrift in this story, but I'll point out that Brad Mixson has now won three Chanda Rubin ITF titles in 2005 with three different partners. Ellah Nze, on the girls side, won her first ever ITF doubles title, despite being part of the number one seeded team. Partner Kimberly Couts has won events with other partners, but knowing how the ITF seeds doubles, that didn't have anything to do with their position at the top.