Austin Tennis Academy News: Brewster, Burak, Yonge and Young Champs at ATA Spenco, 56 in Icy Draws

January 22, 2008

Brewster, Burak, Yonge and Young Champs at ATA Spenco, 56 in Icy Draws

The weekend featured frigid conditions, parents creating gloves out of socks, frozen water pipes at the Austin Tennis Academy and feisty tennis competition. With early Sunday morning temperatures plunging into the 20s, natural adversity was a factor at the SPENCO ATA Winter Junior Open January 18th-20th. The Austin Tennis Academy’s policy of never cancelling practice due to weather was also a factor as 4 ATA players won main-draw titles. Austin Tennis Academy Junior Academy Director Brian Notis served as Tournament Director for the event.

In the boys 10s division, Ian Yonge fought his way to the final, overcoming (2) seed Marco Quaroni 8-2 along the way. Rahul Gorti won the back-draw, defeating Marck Molina 8-5 in the final. Rohan Daruwala beat Mauricio Deleon 8-2 in the back-draw. In girls 10s, Danielle Cuteri beat Stephanie Baerman 8-5 in the first round, while Katherine Spencer won a very close 9-8 and 7-5 in the tie break match. In another close match, Smrithi Mahadevan beat Mackenzie Bartsch 9-7.

Anish Rajan beat (3) seed Seung Min Kim 6-4, 7-5 then ATA teammate Sanjit Kumar to make the boys 12s final round. Before playing Rajan, Sanjit beat Isaac Perez 6-4, 6-2. Sreyas Mahadevan won two main-draw matches, including a win over Mariano Ravello 6-7(2), 6-2, 10-2. Sreyas fell to eventual draw champion (2) Alex Minca. Young Zach Knezevich fell early to Riki Skutt in three sets, then came on to win over Evan Guerra 6-4, 6-3. In the 12s qualified division, Conor O’Meara lost to Scott Politz in a close 6-1, 7-6(3) match. Rohan Makhija lost narrowly to John Jacob 6-2, 2-6, 10-3. Payton Holden won two in the main-draw, beating Matthew Milliken in straight sets before falling to (2) seed Clayton Niess. Breck Spencer “competed well against a Super-Champ”, according to Coach Notis, falling to Josh Minor.

In girls 12s, Coach Loren Collins saw Ali Burak “dominate with steady ground-strokes and fantastic footwork,” winning the final 6-1, 6-1 over Paige Johnson. Aarti Bhat earned her way to the back-draw final round over Marielle Catalos in three sets. Remi Immler won close over Catherine Canby 7-4, 7-6(5). Meghan O’Malley played with effort and a high level of sportsmanship in two matches. Carli Knezevich fell to Anna Bright in a closely contested qualified main-draw match, 6-2, 7-6(5), 6-3.

Junior Academy Director Brian Notis advised Christian Yonge to work on “accelerating the racquet through his groundstrokes, adding spin and control to strong fundamentals.” Christian listened, competing well to edge out (2) seed Joseph Herner in a well-fought final: 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 6-4. In other 14s play, Jaxon Immler beat Kyle Ford 6-1, 5-7, 10-7. Daniel Howell played two matches, and Liam Leddy notched a close back-draw win 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-6. Neel Kumar beat Jeremy McCormack 6-2, 6-4 in the first round. Coach Notis said “Pierce show competitive improvement.” Pierce Kelley dominated Caleb Wang and Brooks Ragsdale in the main-draw. Austin Lewis beat ATA teammate Liam Leddy 7-5, 7-6(5).

In 14s qualified, Austin Doyle eliminated Joey Fischer from the main-draw 2-6, 6-4, 10-8. Liam Woolley-MacMath beat ATA teammate Will Douglass and lost to draw champion Sean Spiesman. Casey Shaw beat Arturo Ravelo 6-3, 7-5. Garrett Callen beat Price Winton 7-6(2), 6-1. Eliot Blatt beat Frankie Fischer 6-1, 7-5.

Native New Yorker Sydney Young was not tested until the final round, posting a 6-2, 5-7, 6-0 in the girls 14s. Brianna Fisher beat Anna Brahoe in her first round, while Meg Cahill beat Alexandria Brown 6-4, 6-0 before falling to champion Young. Adrienne Zwiener showed good sportsmanship in two matches. Jessica Clouse won the back-draw, outlasting Amy Kasshara 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 to reach the final. In girls 14s qualified, Brittany Brewster did not drop a set through the draw, beating (2) Meredith Hopson 6-2, 6-0 in the final. Brewster lost a similarly one sided match against Hopson 8 months ago.

In boys 16s, Ryan Burak lost a close first round match to Apollo Tran 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. James Seward beat Toland Johnson 7-6(6), 7-5, advancing to a final round back-draw showdown with Burak. In that match, Ryan emerged in straight sets. Luke Brown competed in two matches. In 16s Champ-qualified, Colton Malesovas beat Brian Ong 7-6(4), 6-4. In 16s boys Super-Champs, Taylor Shamshiri beat Justin Winton in the semi-finals 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Conor O’Rourke beat Antonio Alda 7-6(3), 6-4. Esteban Kaufmann competed in the tournament. Morgan Barnhill dominated the girls 16s back-draw, crushing Cantalupo 6-0, 6-1 in the final. Hailey Posas beat L. Brooke Johnson in the first round. Zoe Kearl beat Margeaux Vatel 6-2, 6-2. Kate Cahill won her first round over Chloe Ayala 6-1, 6-2. Claire Cahill won two main-draw matches and gave draw champion Glasper her best match of the weekend, with Glasper emerging 6-4 in the third set.

In boys 18s, Jon Stockdale lost in the final round 7-6(8), 6-1 to fellow Lake Travis High School teammate Alex Mckinzie. Daniel Wang fell to Caleb Ray 6-2, 6-3. In girls 18s, Blair Jones won her first round, then lost to draw champion Brittini Fausett. Adrian Turner beat Super-Champ player Stephanie Maldonado 2-6, 6-2, 10-4. Jessica Waite earned the back-draw title, beating Antonina Leppin 6-2, 7-6(3) in the final. Christine Schatz beat Mallika Prakash 6-0, 4-6, 6-4.

With over 300 competitors and 56 from ATA, the SPENCO ATA Winter Junior Open was a huge success. Congratulations to all competitors. The Austin Tennis Academy staff is excited to build on the progress of this event in February tournaments. See the ATA website for upcoming tournament and registration deadlines.

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