USTA Winter National Championships Complete, Top Seeds Take Four of Eight Divisions
The USTA Winter National Championships concluded today with the crowning of the 16s and 18s champions.
All told, four number one seeds collected gold balls, including girls 18s No. 1 Jamie Loeb, who has won three Winter National titles in a row--the 16s two years ago, the 18s last year and the 18s again this year. The only unseeded champion, in singles or doubles, was Kelly Chen, the girls 14s winner, who beat the No. 8, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in succesion in claiming the title. It was great to see George Goldhoff earn a gold ball on the court, in a completed match, after the debacle at last year's Clay Courts, when the final between Goldhoff and Jared Hiltzik was abandoned due to rain with Hiltzik leading 6-4, 3-1. Hurricane Tyra Black is Tornado Alicia Black's younger sister. Three players took two gold balls home from Arizona, sweeping singles and doubles: Kumar, Shibahara and McNally.
The results of the singles and doubles finals are below. Special thanks to YourGameFace.com, who supplied me with photos of the champions I did not have in my library. If you would like to inquire about purchasing photos they may have taken, whether at the Eddie Herr, Junior Orange Bowl or the Winter Nationals, email them at yourgameface(at)me.com.
SINGLES:
G18s: Jamie Loeb(1) def. Ellyse Hamlin 7-5, 6-1
B18s: George Goldhoff(1) def. David Hsu(7 2-6, 6-0, 6-3
G16s: Ena Shibahara(15) def. Melissa Lord(4) 6-3, 6-2
B16s: Sameer Kumar(1) def. Hampton Drake(9)4-6, 6-4, 6-2
G14s: Kelly Chen def. Helen Altick(4)6-1, 6-4
B14s: John McNally(2) def. Zeke Clark(4) 6-4, 6-3
G12s: Hurricane Tyra Black(17) def. Josie Frazier(4) 6-0, 6-1
B12s: Keenan Mayo(1) def. Brandon Nakashima(4) 6-4, 6-3
DOUBLES:
B18s: Robbie Bellamy/ Henry Craig(1) def. Benjamin Donovan/ George Goldhoff(2) 6-4, 7-6(4)
G18s: Maegan Manasse/Zoe Katz(2) def. Jamie Loeb/Gabrielle Otero(1) 7-5, 7-6(2)
B16s: Martin Joyce/Sameer Kumar(1) def. Kial Kaiser/JT Nishimura(2) 7-6(4), 7-5
G16s: Alexis Pereira/Ena Shibahara(5) def. Emma Higuchi/Maddie Pothoff 6-0, 6-3
B14s: Liam Caruana/John McNally(2) def. Zeke Clark/Nathan Perrone(3) 6-2, 6-4
G14s: Helen Altick/Alexa Bortles(3) def. Abigail Chiu/Elizabeth Porter(1) 6-2, 6-3
B12s: Jaycer Calleros/Trey Hilderbrand(2) def. Matthew Fenty/RJ Fresen(3) 6-3, 6-3
G12s: Sophia Edwards/Taylor Johnson(1) def. Jasmin Tripathy/Marlee Zein(2) 6-2, 6-3
5 comments:
The Winter Nats are by far the weakest national tournament and should be scraped.
So some tennis mom decided to name her 2 kids tornado and hurricane! How ridiculous!! Why would you crush your child like that???
"Peter said...
So some tennis mom decided to name her 2 kids tornado and hurricane! How ridiculous!! Why would you crush your child like that???"
"CRUSH?!" Don't you think that you've TOTALLY overreacted?! I have heard of judgmental people but this takes the cake. In fact, it makes me wonder if this is a posting from a parent who is jealous of these girls' great success. First of all, why would such empowering names "crush" them. And, the evidence indicates the total opposite as they are doing nothing but crushing their opponents if anything.
When I first heard these names I thought they might be a little bit excessive but the more I think about it I'm beginning to appreciate the creativity. The names are certainly not hurting the girls' tennis any and they can always ask to be called by another nickname or change their name when they turn 18 if they don't like the names.
Java Joe, Why is there always someone like you insulting the hard working juniors at Winter Nationals? I don't understand why you would demean the achievements of any junior at any event by calling it weak. I think only a weak minded person would insult kids like that. It may not draw every top player (none do if you really knew junior tennis) but it draws enough of them to be a great event.
Hurricane and Tornado Black are great tennis players and great people. If you have any doubts, you should go to a match and check them out. You can also support them on InvolvedFan.com
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