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National 12s Open Championship in Chattanooga


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An impressive trio of teenage tennis stars - Devin Britton, the 2009 NCAA singles champion, Jordan Cox, Wimbledon Juniors finalist and Melanie Oudin a fourth round participant in the Wimbledon women's draw - all have Chattanooga in common.

 

Five years ago, the aforementioned threesome and others were rising juniors and showcased their talents in our city for the 2004 USTA National Junior 14s.

 

Wednesday morning at the Champions Club a new group of impressive pre-teens will play for the National 12s boys and girls singles titles, looking to make their mark in the world of tennis.

 

???We have had some very talented players come through here for the National 12s and 14s and it's great to see them go on to bigger and better things,'' said tournament director Eric Voges.

 

Voges is also pleased with the level of play in this year's national field.

 

???To have the nation's fourth-ranked player (Tommy Paul, Greenville, S.C) and others in the top 25 and top 50 in town says a lot about our event,'' he stated. ???It will be fun to follow their careers through the juniors and maybe one day we can say 'hey they played in the nationals in Chattanooga and see where they are now.'''

 

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, Paul (No.1 seed) will face No.2 seed David Beasley (Ind.) for the boy's title, while on the girl's side it's No.2 seed Diana Kussainova (Fla.) and No.5 Vooha Vellanki (Ga.). Paul and Vellanki are recent Southern Sectional champs.

 

Boy's Singles: No.1 Tommy Paul (S.C.) vs. No.2 David Beasley (Ind.) ??¦ first meeting between the two ??¦ Paul is No.4 in the nation,while Beasley is No. 32 ??¦ neither player has lost a set in four matches in route to the final ??¦ both players point to their solid national ranking as a product of hard work the past year ??¦ Paul has jumped more than 100 spots in 12 months, while according to Beasley, ???I was ranked somewhere in the thousands last summer,'' he said with a smile ??¦ Paul won the Southern Sectional 12s singles and doubles in June, while Beasley was the Midwest runner-up ??¦ Paul looks for his first national title, but it won't be the first for the family as older sister, Jessie Lynn, claimed the National Open 12s doubles here last summer.

 

Girls Singles: No.2 Diana Kussainova ( Fla.) vs. No. 5 Vooha Vellanki (Ga.) ??¦ National rankings show Kussainova at No. 21 and Vellanki at No. 43 ??¦ Vellanki won the Southern Sectional 12s singles after being seeded fourth ??¦ Neither player has a dropped a set in four matches ??¦Vellanki and doubles partner Sofia Kenin placed second in doubles this afternoon.

 

Results

 

Boy's Singles

 

Semis: No.1 Tommy Paul (S.C.) d. No.3 Anudeep Kodali (N.C.), 6-2, 6-0 ??¦ No. 2 David Beasley (Ind.) d. No.9 Adam Rudowski (Franklin, Tenn.), 6-4, 6-1 ??¦ In Paul's match, the winner was down 0-2 and then won 12 straight games, breaking his opponent six times.

 

Boy's Doubles

 

Finals: No.4 Michael Apple(Tenn.)-Anudeep Kodali (N.C.) d. No.2 Lee Martin (Ga.)-Sebastian Bromley (Ky.), 8-5 ??¦ Apple-Kodali defeated the No.1 seed in the semis and the No.2 seed in the finals.

 

Girl's Singles

 

Semis: No.2 Diana Kussainova (Fla.) d. No.9 Tiffany Huber (Mich.), 6-1, 6-4 ??¦ No.5 Vooha Vellanki (Ga.) d. No. 5 Alexa Corse (Md.), 6-0, 6-0.

 

Girl's Doubles

 

Finals: No.2 Clare Raley (Ga.)-Shelby King (Ga,) d. No.1 Sofia Kenin (Fla.)-Diana Kussainova (Fla.), 9-7 ??¦ Kussainova had beaten Raley, 6-1, 6-2 in the singles round of 16. ??¦ Raley and Kenin meet Wednesday at 9 a.m. in a fifth place singles match.

 

Rally Caps: The final was two hours and three minutes as Raley and King trailed 7-3 on serve, before winning the final six games ??¦ Top seeded Kenin-Kussainova had one match point and served for the national title at 7-4 and 7-6 ??¦ Raley and King changed strategy at 7-3 and played mostly deep, floating shots from the baseline to win ??¦ A few points had more than 50 strokes, while one point went past the 100 mark ??¦ Raley reached the Southern Sectional doubles semis.

 

 

 

National 12s and 14s Alums:

 

2004: Devin Britton won the 14s singles title ??¦ Britton beat Chattanooga's Bo Seal in the 14s quarters ??¦ Britton won the 2009 NCAA singles title this spring as a freshman at Ole Miss .. ??¦ Melanie Oudin (Oo-Dan) won the national 14s doubles and was singles runner-up ??¦ Last week she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in the women's draw and has played for the United States in the Federation Cup ... She is the great niece of the late Frank Willett, who was a longtime Chattanooga resident ... At Ga. Tech, Willett was a 1945 NCAA singles semifinalist, losing to eventual winner Pancho Segura (Univ. of Miami, Fla.) ... Good Genes: His granddaughters, Molly and Lauren Willett (daughters of Buzz Willett), played tennis at Sewanee, 2003-2006, earned Phi Beta Kappa honors and led the Tigers to a third place finish at the 2006 NCAA D-III nationals.

 

2005: Jordan Cox returned to Chattanooga in 2005 for the 14s and teamed with future high school state champ Will Reynolds (Chattanooga Christian School) to win the national 14s ??¦ Last week, Cox defeated Britton in the Wimbledon Juniors semis and lost in the finals ??¦ Britton and Cox lost in the doubles quarters ??¦ In the Boy's 14s singles final in 2005, No.1 Tennys Sandgren (Gallatin, Tenn.) defeated No.6 Reynolds ??¦ Sandgren won two matches at the French Juniors last month.

 

More National Alums:

 

Boy's 12s (July 1963 ??“ Manker Patten): The USTA National 12s Clay Court Championship showcased Dickie Stockton, Jimmy Connors, Brian Gottfried, Harold Solomon, Erik VanDillen and Lookout Mountain residents Roscoe Tanner and Forest Simmons. Stockton defeated Connors (quarters), Gottfried (semis) and VanDillen (finals) on the way to winning his second national 12s.

 

 

 

 

Boys 14s (July 1963 ??“ Manker Patten): Lookout Mountain star Zan Guerry won the USTA National 14s Clay Court singles and doubles .... In a four year period from 1960-1963, Guerry won six national junior titles; national 11s (singles and doubles), national 13s (doubles), national 14s (singles) and national 14s (doubles, twice).

 

 

 

 

Contact B.B. Branton at [email protected]

 

also posted on chattanoogan.com

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