Hey Tennis Friends!
Last weekend, I visited the finals of the USTA Girls’ 18s National Hard Court Championships at the Barnes Family Tennis Center in San Diego, California. At stake at these Championships is the title of National Champion, and with it a Wild Card entry into the main draw of the US Open Women’s Championships for the 18s Champion in singles and doubles!
This event was actually a combined 16s & 18s girls’ championships, however, I was not able to make it out for the 16s finals that were held the previous day.
The results for the matches that I featured in this video report are:
GIRLS’ 18s SINGLES Championship (with seedings)
(2)CiCi Bellis d. (5)Tornado Ali Black 6-3, 6-1
Black broke Bellis in the second game of the opening set and went on to establish a 3-0 lead. Bellis rebounded as she began matching Black stroke for stroke from the baseline as the momentum of the match shifted in her favor.
Bellis, won six straight games to wrap-up the first set in 50 minutes. In the second set, Bellis took a 3-0 lead before Black held serve at love to make the score 3-1.
After falling behind 0-30 on her serve in the fifth game, Bellis won the next eight points, as she held serve, then broke Black at love to increase her lead to 5-1. Serving for the match, Bellis fought off a break point and went on to close out the match with a forehand winner on her second match point.
Fifteen year old Bellis has compiled a 34-4 record in international junior competition this summer, winning four International Tennis Federation junior singles titles. She arrived at the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championships as the No. 2 ranked junior player in the world!
The sixteen year old, Black, reached the 2013 US Open Girls’ singles final as an unseeded wild card, was a Wimbledon junior quarterfinalist, and won her second career USTA Pro Circuit title last month. She arrived at the USTA Girls’ 18s National Championships as the No. 4 ranked junior player in the world!
GIRLS’ 18s DOUBLES Championship (with seedings)
(1)Louisa Chirico / Kat Stewart
d. (6)Josie Kuhlman / Kaitlyn McCarthy 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
All these players had strong singles showings at this event, as well. In fact, (16)Kuhlman took out her partner, (17)McCarthy, in the Round of 32, before losing to (5)Tornado Ali Black in the Round of 16.
(3)Stewart, who won three USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 singles titles this year and last month captured the USTA Girls’ 18s National Clay Court singles title, got knocked out in the Round of 16, while (1)Chirico lost in the singles semifinal to Black.
For more complete scores and entries to this tournamnet, follow this link:
2014 USTA Girls’ National Championships
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I’ll see you next time, with more tennis, . . . outside the lines!
– Marcus Tennis
