February 12, 2008
4 Qualifiers, 5 Champions, 9 Semi-Finalists at ATA Glimmer of Hope ZAT, 41 in Draws
Spring arrived in Austin, February 9th and 10th as 41 Austin Tennis Academy students competed in the Austin Tennis Academy Glimmer of Hope ZAT under mostly beautiful skies. ATA’s Junior Academy Director Brian Notis served as Tournament Director, while all of ATA’s Coaching Staff served as on-site staff around Austin. With 4 Champ qualifiers 5 draw champions and 9 semi-finalists, the tournament was ATA’s best ZAT result of the young season.
Rahul Gorti rolled through three matches, winning the boys’ 10s draw with an 8-3 victory over Anthony Tran in the final. In girls’ 10s, Haarika Somarouthu won two matches, bested only in a final round match with Briana Vanrensburg 8-6.
Young Zach Knezevich played up in the 12s division, winning close twice, first over Varun Reddy 6-4, 7-5 and then again over Samuel San Marco 6-4, 6-4. In the same division, Sreyas Mahadevan survived a first round fight, winning 10-7 in the super-breaker over Scott Lloyd. Sreyas moved through the next two rounds in straight sets, earning main-draw finalist honors. Anish Rajan won a close second round over Alon Rodgers 6-4, 6-7(4), 11-9. Anish “showed tremendous grit in his final match,” stated Coach Notis, saving five consecutive match points before beating Sam Bell 11-9 in the super-breaker. Girls’ 12s featured Ali Burak blasting through the draw, winning a one-sided final over Morgan Nix 6-1, 6-1. Savannah Brilliant advanced to the semi-final round, beating Jenna Greene 6-3, 7-5 in the quarter-final round before posting what Coach Notis described as an “amazing comeback”, nearly winning her semi-final match. Meghan O’Malley won a back-draw match over Paolo Herrera 6-1, 6-2.
In boys’ 14s, Daniel Howell won three matches, losing in the semi-finals 10-8 in the super-breaker, a “great tournament for Daniel,” said Coach Notis. Jaxon Immler competed hard in two matches, “showing great progress trying to win matches in competition” said Coach Schoenmakers. Pierce Kelley won the boys’ 14s draw, Coach Notis saw “Pierce’s game style progress over the past few weeks directly contributed to his champ qualification”, this weekend. Sydney Young dominated the girls’ 14s white draw, winning five matches in straight sets, including a dominant final round performance over Victoria Zuniga. In the first round, Meg Cahill lost a very close match 10-8 in the third set super-breaker. Coach Schoenmakers saw “Meg find her top form in the back-draw”, winning two matches 6-0, 6-0 and winning the back-draw. Smrithi Hariharan “competed very well,” defeating Lillian Wallace 7-5, 6-0 to reach the main-draw semi-final round. Smrithi “is figuring out how to execute her game plan in competition”, according to Coach Schoenmakers. Jessica Clouse competed hard in girls’ 14s, showing high character and class in two matches.
James Seward lost what could have been a heart-breaking match to Archie Veeravalli 2-6, 7-5, 10-6 in the boys’ 16s division. However, James was not done competing; Coach Schoenmakers saw James “playing at his highest level in competition,” winning his next match over Aaron Price in a similarly close contest, 6-1, 6-7(3), 10-8. Ryan Burak “made great competitive strides,” said Coach Strecker besting Mitchell Hollingsworth 7-5, 7-6(5) in the first round, then winning three more matches, earning finalist honors in the boys’ 16s division.
Congratulations to all 41 of the Austin Tennis Academy’s participants in the ATA Glimmer of Hope ZAT. The Austin Tennis Academy staff is very encouraged by the results and looks forward to the San Antonio Tennis Association ZAT, March 1st and 2nd. Register now, the deadline for entry is February 17th.
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