Sizzling Buchanan Takes ITF Easter Bowl Championship
©Colette Lewis 2008--
Rancho Mirage, CA--
Chase Buchanan minimized his exposure to the blistering heat in Sunday's 18s Easter Bowl final by roaring past No. 13 seed Alex Llompart of Puerto Rico 6-1, 6-0 Sunday afternoon at the Rancho Las Palmas Resort.
Buchanan opened the match serving, and four points and four winners later, two of which were volleys, he was ahead to stay.
"I wanted to attack the whole time," said Buchanan, the No. 4 seed. "He likes to get in long points, and I'm fit enough to play that way when I need to, but there's no need to when he can feel the pressure of me coming in."
Llompart served well, but Buchanan missed very few returns, and even when Llompart hit a good approach and tried to close, he was either passed or lobbed over. The lobs were especially demoralizing to Llompart, who became more reluctant to finish as the match went on.
"He played very good," said Llompart, who is now training at Newcombe's Tennis Academy in Texas. "He missed like four balls in the whole match. I came into the match a little anxious, a little tight, but he just played very good, and I didn't play my best."
Buchanan, who turns 17 in June, was pleased with the consistency he is starting to exhibit in competition.
"I've played good in practice, I just hadn't been bringing it out when I needed to," said Buchanan, who is from New Albany, Ohio, but is now training at the USTA High Performance Center in Boca Raton. "I hadn't been consistent an entire week. I've been more consistent these past two weeks. Even at the Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl, I played up and down, had a great win over Berankis, go three sets with Wil (Spencer) and then lose 0 and 2. It needs to level off, and hopefully that's what it's doing."
Next for Buchanan are two Pro Circuit events on Florida clay, which he'll use to prepare for the upcoming junior tournaments in Belgium and Roland Garros.
Llompart lost two championship matches on Sunday. Partnering Jose Sierra-Short, also of Puerto Rico, the No. 8 seeded doubles team lost to unseeded Denis Lin and Kyle McMorrow of Thousand Oaks, Calif. 7-6(1), 2-6, 10-7.
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