Local Juniors go on the Road

     

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 second-seeded Theodore Silbiger. Theodore ended up winning the tournament. Easton Chichak and Rishab Arvind lost their opening round matches, but both came back to win in the Consolation round. Rishab beat Ryan Liman, and Easton took out Connor Stern. In the Boys 12 Doubles,, Antonio and Easton beat Aiden Xie and Braydon Yu in the first round but lost to Aksel and Julien Litvak in the second round. Aksel and Julian went on to win the tournament by beating Aneesh and Roger in the final. Aneesh and Roger got to the final by beating Prayush Malliah and Theodore Silbiger, the #1 and #2 seeds in the singles and the two singles finalists.  

          

Now for the 12 and Under Girls. It was all Jolie Chichak. Jolie was the top seed, and she showed why by beating Lily Norman, Mia Tanasoiu, and Gabrielle Alexa Villegas. Katie Sheng also played. Katie won her first-round match against Veronika Matulskaya 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 and lost her second-round match to Mia Tanasoiu 5-7, 6-2, 10-4. She got lots of tennis in those two rounds. Katie and Jolie teamed up for the doubles, and they won their first match against Lina Liman and Sonia Nadzan but lost to Mia and Gabrielle in the finals.

The Northern Region was well represented in the 16's too. On the Boy's side, Khrishnadhev Jammula was the 6th seed. He got a first-round bye and beat Wyatt Shinskie and Cameron Lukasik before losing to the #3 seeded Jonah Ng. Aaditya Ojha beat Quinn Scanlon to start, but then he lost to Ronan O'Dwyer - the top seed. Mahen Bitkuri - seeded 8th - also got a first-round bye and won his second-round match against Maxim Golubenko. Mahen also lost to Ronan O'Dwyer. Mahen and Dhev were seeded 4th in the doubles, but they blew through the draw, winning their first round 8-0 (against Quinn Scanlon/Ryan Truta); their second round 8-2 (against Wyatt Shinskie/Joseph Xia); and winning the finals 8-3 over Sean Wang and Jonah Ng.

In the Girls 16's, Riley Schmitz got a first-round bye and had to play second-seeded Peyton Gaudreau in the second round. Riley had a great match with Lina Liman in the Consolation Round and won 3-5, 5-4 (4), 8-6.

"It was a great experience.  A lot of high level competition.  I feel we all represented Upstate tennis well." (Aksel).  I would have to agree.

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Not all Northern Region tennis players were at the Cornell Tournament.  Rajeev Raiplayed the Boys 12's Hardcourt Level 1 Nationals at Mobile Alabama.  Level 1's are the highest Level of tournament that the USTA has an only a very few ;players get selected in.  It's a very competitive draw but Rajeev managed to get a win n the backdraw - beating Jack Herrrint]gton (Cumming, GA).  

Rajeev was not the only local player at a Level 1 National.  Olivia Dartawan made it to the Girls 14 Level 1 Nationals at Berry College (Rome, GA).  She and her doubles partner Jordan Lee beat Karina Lee and Milan Tyson in the doubles draw.  Milan is the daughter of MIke Tyson.  Meanwhile Zain Choudry played a Level 5 Open tournament in Virginia Beach.  He made it to the Quarter Finals losing the match tiebreaker 12-10.  In doubles he and partner Matthew Kringer lost in the finals 9-7.

All in all it was a pretty good run for Northern Region players.