518Tennis

Rhea Agrawal, Mia Corso, Mia Viasman      This past Thursday, we went on our annual team bus trip to the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center to see some of the best tennis players in the world try to qualify for the U.S. Open.  It was round 2 of the Qualifiers.  We also got to see the top players in the world practicing – players like Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Janik Sinner, Coco Gauff, and Aryna Sabalenka, to name a few.      After every match and every practice, there were hordes of young kids with oversized tennis balls waiting for autographs.  It was exciting.  We bought U.S. Open Hoodies, U.S. Open T-shirts, U.S. Open Caps, U.S. Open Towels, and even U.S. Open Candles.        Every time we go down to the National Tennis Center, it gets bigger, and every time, it gets better.  We will miss the experience and the camaraderie. Rhea, Mia, and Mia are Senior tennis players at the Albany Academy.

 Another day, another junior tournament.  This time it was the 10 & Unders, and there was a lot of great Orange Ball, and Green Ball tennis played. Antonio Boncordo showed that he is ready to step up from Orange Ball to Green Ball.  Antonio powered through the Orange Ball draw, barely losing a game.  He will also be playing the Yellow Ball WTN Banded Event.  Aiden Paul added to his trophy collection, too – he finished second. The Kelling twins kept up the winning family tradition in the Girl’s Green Ball Division.  Brooklyn came in first, and Kennedy came in second. A lot of exciting tennis was played in the Boy’s Green Ball Division.  Nathaniel Russaliah  beat out Shawn Mendonca in Group 1, and Ronith Arvind beat Andrew Liu in Group 2.  Ronith went on to win the Group 1/Group 2 playoff 4-1, 4-1.  The next Ten and Under tournament will be held on September 11th. editor@518tennis.com

Bethlehem showed us why it's a hotbed of local junior tennis.  Fifty-Six juniors turned out for the Level 7 tournament there today - the next to last stop before the season-ending championships on August 27 at the Saratoga YMCA.       The 14 and Under Boy's Division was won by Roger Sheng .  Runner up was Aneesh Jakkamsetti .  On the Girl's side, Clare Dooley defeated Isabel Amurao in the Finals. The Boy's 18 & Unders was won by Aaditya Ojha.  He defeated Henri Pothier in the Finals.  The Girl's 18 Division was won by Hope Brown , who beat Jolie Chichak in the Finals.         Congratulations to Beth Kellerman and Scott George for running a great junior tennis event. The last qualifying event is next weekend at SPORTIME.  The TRICIA Junior Tennis Tournament.  Sign up is through the TRICIA website - CLICK HERE

      This weekend many of our talented local junior tennis players went on the road to play in tournaments outside our area. Many traveled to Cornell to play the Level 5 Tournament there. Northern Region players filled the Boys 12 and Under draw. Aksel Kelling led the way. He got a bye in the first round and followed it up with a win over 6th seeded Devon Brougher and a win over Roger Sheng before losing to the top-seeded Prayush Malliah. "I love playing my friend Roger and the sportsmanship and respect we have for each other." (Aksel) Roger got there by winning his first round match 6-0, 6-0, and then beating another local player Roshan Pandya. Roshan went on to win his consolation round match with Braydon Yu. Then he got a walkover win due to personal circumstances. Antonio Banchs got a first-round bye and beat his second-round opponent - Braiden Powell, before losing to the 4th seed - Sawyer Goudreau. Aneesh Jakkamsetti started with a win over Ryan Liman but ran into seco

 Today was the battle of the two undefeated teams in our division. Unfortunately, we came out on the short end. Team Sampras was just too good in the clutch. We had six matches go to match tiebreakers, and we lost them all. Team Sampras will play for 1st and 2nd tomorrow, and we will play for 3rd and 4th. There are 12 teams, so being in the 3/4 playoff is not bad. Zonals is an incredible event. I was happy to be selected to be part of it. I am looking forward to tomorrow's playoff match, and I am looking forward to next year's Zonals. The coaches are already making plans (we are hoping the Cubs are in town at Wrigley the night before). editor@518tennis.com

  What an exciting day at Zonals. One of the players on the opposing team was injured so we started with a win in Boy's DoublesWe won the other Boy's Doubles handily, so we were quickly up 2-0, but then we lost both Girl's Doubles and both Mixed Doubles, so we were down 4-2 coming out of doubles. Next up was Boy's Singles. My #1 Boy - Omar Rhaszoli - managed to pull out a hard-fought and emotional match for the second day in a row. "Playing in front of my teammates pumps me up a lot because they are encouraging me and boosting my energy. I am able to play loose when my teammates are there. "(Omar) We managed to win 4 of the Boy's Singles - one was from the player who defaulted on their team - so next up was the Girl's Singles. My # 1 player - Katy Hancock - lost the first set and was down 4-1 in the second set, but she rallied to take the second set and win the match tiebreaker 10-8. We took 3 out of the remaining five singles matches to win 10-8. One