Austin Tennis Academy News

February 8, 2008

Deer Park Champ Major Zone, Jake Jumps to Supers, Wang Wins Back-draw

The DEER PARK CHAMPIONSHIP MAJOR ZONE kicked off Saturday February 3rd and 4th, with 12s-18s play. The Austin Tennis Academy posted strong results, including Jake Berber Super-Champ qualifying as he made the final round of the main-draw. ATA Junior Development Director Kendall Brooks and Coach John Schoenmakers were on-site in Deer Park.
 
Jake Berber showed his Super-Champ mettle this weekend, burning up the draw with steady ground-strokes and a quickly developing all-court game. On his way to the final, Jake won every set, beating Bailey Showers 6-1, 6-3 to secure his Super-Champ designation. In the same division, Rohan Makhija played Taylor Fischer very close, falling 6-4 in the third set. Rohan lost another heart-breaker in the back-draw, 7-5 in the third to Weston Gloger. Payton Holden fell to Michael Hartley in the first round, then beat Anthony Sanchez in the back-draw. Girls’ 12s action featured what Coach Kendall described as Carli Knezevich’s “best Champ tournament yet”, winning two close main-draw matches to make the semi-final round.
 
Austin Doyle posted “break-out results” according to Coach Brooks, first beating Matt Baran in straight sets and then Michael Polak 6-3, 7-6(5), advancing to the boys’ 14s quarter-final  round. Casey Shaw won his first round over Taylor Shope, “competing with great present focus,” noted Coach Schoenmakers. Casey narrowly lost to Bernarndo Vallejo 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-3. In his first Champ level tournament Will Douglass played hard in two matches.
 
In boys' 16s, Colton Malesovas won two back-draw matches, beating Patrick Morales 6-2, 6-2 to reach the final round. In boys' 18s, Daniel Wang lost a close three set opening round match to Brandon Dennin. Wang showed mental and physical toughness in his next three matches, beating Bryce Fellows 7-6(5), 6-4, Caleb Ray by the same score and then Ben Lynch 7-5, 6-2 in the back-draw final. In girls’ 18s, Christine Schatz won a main-draw match 6-1, 6-0 over Kim Howard, “showing strong competitive progress in the past months”, according to Coach Brooks.
 
Congratulations to all ATA competitors in the Deer Park Champ Major Zone. Next month, Champ action continues with the BERRY CREEK CHAMP MAJOR ZONE. Register now, the deadline for entry is February 24th.

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