Stanford men's recruiting class ranked first in nation

   Paul Goldstein recently took another big step in his efforts to rebuild the Stanford men's program.
   The sixth-year Cardinal head coach has compiled the nation's top recruiting class for 2020, according to tennisrecruiting.net.
   Headed to Stanford, which ended the shortened 2020 season ranked eighth, are Great Britain's Arthur Fery, the 12th-ranked junior in the world; blue chippers Alex Lee of Oak Brook, Ill., and Aryan Chaudhary of Santa Clara, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area; and Tristan Boyer of Altadena, Calif., in the Los Angeles region.
   Chaudhary is ranked 11th nationally in the 18s, and Boyer was the runner-up to Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael in the Sacramento region in the 2018 Easter Bowl at Indian Wells, Calif.
   The Stanford men have not won the NCAA team championship since Dick Gould won the last of his 17 titles in 2000. Goldstein, playing for Gould, became the first player to compete on four NCAA championship teams (1995-98), a feat also accomplished by USC's Steve Johnson (2009-12).
   The University of California men, ranked 36th, were not ranked among the top 25 recruiting classes.
   In women's recruiting, the Cal and Stanford classes rank third and seventh, respectively. Texas is No. 1 and Georgia Tech No. 2.
   Cal, ranked 38th, added Jada Bui of Ajax, Ontario, Hannah Viller Møller of Denmark and Cami Brown of Irvine, Calif.
   Bui has a world junior ranking of No. 76. Viller Møller was ranked No. 1 in the 12s, 14s, 16s and 18s in Denmark. Brown is the 68th-ranked recruit by tennisrecruiting.net.
   Sixth-ranked Stanford, which has won the last two NCAA team titles and three of the last four, snagged India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon in the Bay Area and Ana Geller of Argentina.
   Houghton is No. 3 on tennisrecruiting.net's list of recruits. Geller, the sister of Stanford senior Axel Geller, has a world junior ranking of No. 43.

Zamarripa twins surprisingly choose Texas

   Allura and Maribella Zamarripa surprised even themselves by verbally committing to enroll at the University of Texas in 2021.
    The identical twins from Saint Helena in the Napa area are "total California girls," Allura said in the May/June issue of Inside Tennis. "We wanted to stay in California. SoCal, NorCal ... it didn't matter. We just wanted to be in California close to our family. Our initial schools were Stanford, UCLA, Pepperdine, USC. Texas wasn't even on the radar."
   The Zamarripas changed their minds after visiting the University of Texas in Austin.
   "We decided to do a last-minute visit in February," Maribella said, "and we were pleasantly surprised. We chose Texas because we wanted to go pro after college, and Texas had the best opportunities. They play the most pro tournaments, and the resources there are unbelievable."
   In the class of 2020, Aryan Chaudhary of Santa Clara and India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon will head to nearby Stanford, Katherine Duong of Cupertino will play at Illinois, and Dean Babb of Roseville will attend Columbia.
   Santa Clara, Belvedere Tiburon and Cupertino are in the San Francisco Bay Area. Roseville is a suburb of Sacramento.
   Assuming the Zamarripas follow through on their commitment, they will follow Jenson Brooksby as top Northern California juniors to choose a Texas school. Brooksby, the 2018 USTA boys 18 national champion from Carmichael in the Sacramento region, originally committed to Texas Christian in Fort Worth for 2020 before following renowned coach Brian Boland to Baylor in Waco. Boland won four NCAA team titles in five years (2013-17) at Virginia.
   The Zamarripas almost stunned eventual champions Madison Brengle and Sachia Vickery in the first round of the $60,000 Berkeley Tennis Club Women's Challenge last July, falling 6-7 (5), 6-2 [10-5]. Brengle also won the singles title.
   In 2018, the Zamarripas swept the girls 16 doubles titles in the Easter Bowl at Indian Wells, Calif., and the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson, Calif., in consecutive weeks.

Quinn wins all-NorCal boys 16 final in Winter Nationals

   Sixth-seeded Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., beat fifth-seeded Kurt Miller of Los Gatos, Calif., in the San Jose area 6-2, 6-2 today to win the boys 16 singles title in the USTA National Winter Championships on clay in Orlando, Fla.
   Quinn did not lose a set in seven matches. Miller was coming off a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over third-seeded Michael Zheng of Montville, N.J., on Thursday.
   In the boys 18 doubles final on a hardcourt in Orlando, fourth-seeded Keshav Chopra of Marietta, Ga., and Coy Simon of Charleston, S.C., topped third-seeded Aryan Chaudhary of Santa Clara, Calif., also near San Jose, 4-6, 6-2, retired.
   Chaudhary and Zapp, who won the singles title, will enroll at Stanford and North Carolina, respectively.
   Top-seeded Natalie Block of Plantation, Fla., and Aubrey Nisbet of Wilmington, Del., won the girls 16 doubles crown on clay in Orlando. They wore down unseeded Katie Codd of Carlsbad in the San Diego region and Tomi Main of Seaside, near Monterey, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0. Codd claimed the singles title.

Bryans, Easter Bowl, NorCal HOF, coach award, colleges

Bob Bryan, serving, and Mike Bryan play in the 2016
U.S. Open. The ex-Stanford stars won their sixth Miami
Open title on Saturday. Photo by Paul Bauman

   The Bryan brothers and Vivian Ovrootsky won big titles on Saturday.
   Third seeds and ex-Stanford stars Bob and Mike Bryan beat unseeded Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece 7-5, 7-6 (6) for their sixth Miami Open crown and second in a row.
   The 40-year-old Bryan twins saved four set points in the second-set tiebreaker. They also survived four match points in their 7-6 (7), 6-7 (8) [14-12] semifinal victory over top-seeded Lukasz Kubot of Poland and Marcelo Melo of Brazil.
   The Bryans collected their 118th tour-level title and second since Bob returned to action in January after missing eight months. He underwent hip replacement surgery last August.
   "A doctor was cutting me open eight months ago, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it back on court," said Bob, who lives in the Miami suburb of Sunny Isles Beach. "To win this title is a dream and certainly wasn't possible eight months ago. This huge for us."
   Ovrootsky, a 14-year-old San Jose resident, downed DJ Bennett of Belleview, Fla., 6-3, 6-4 for the Easter Bowl girls 16 title in Indian Wells. Ovrootsky was seeded ninth and Bennett 10th.
   "I didn't play my best tennis today, and DJ played unbelievable tennis today, and her forehand was really on," Ovrootsky, who also received the USTA Sportsmanship Award in her age group, told publicist Steve Pratt. "I just had to get through the match and stay offensive."
   Ovrootsky, who won an ITF Level 4 tournament in Irvine last week, extended her winning streak to 12 matches.
   "It was tiring, but I think I recovered well, which is why I was able to move the way I did today," said Ovrootsky, who has won three USTA gold balls and two silver balls.
   Ovrootsky takes online classes and trains under Nick Fustar at the Eagle Fustar Tennis Academy.
   Two other San Francisco Bay Area residents, Ria Bhakta of Saratoga and Natasha Rajaram of Los Altos, lost in finals on Thursday.
   Third-seeded Tsehay Driscoll of Pacific Palisades in the Los Angeles area topped the second-seeded Bhakta 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 for the girls 14 singles title.
   Unseeded Daniela Borruel of Buena Park in the L.A. region, and Rebecca Kong of San Diego dominated second-seeded Thea Latak, from the Chicago suburb of Burr Ridge, Ill., and Rajaram 6-3, 6-1 for the girls 12 doubles crown.
   NorCal Hall of Fame -- The USTA Northern California Tennis Hall of Fame will enshrine prominent coach Brad Stine and four others at a luncheon on Friday, June 21, at the Peninsula Golf & Country Club in San Mateo. The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  Stine has coached Jim Courier, Kevin Anderson, Mardy Fish, Andrei Medvedev and other pros. Also inducted will be:
   --Elly Hakami, who reached No. 32 in the world in singles in 1988 and No. 68 in doubles in 1987.
   --Jeff Greenwald, a sports psychologist, author and top 40-and-over player.
   --Administrators Linda Peltz and Mike Skinner.
   Developmental Coach of Year -- Joseph Gilbert, the owner and director of the JMG Tennis Academy at Arden Hills Athletic & Social Club in Sacramento, became the first two-time winner of the Team USA Developmental Coach of the Year award.
   Gilbert coaches:
   --Collin Altamirano and Jenson Brooksby, the 2013 and 2018 USTA boys 18 national champions, respectively.
   --Ishaan Ravichander and Mason Nguyen, the boys 18 and 12 winners, respectively, in the USTA National Winter Championships in January.
   --Zachery Lim, who won the boys 16 title in the International Spring Championships in Carson last April.
   Colleges -- Caroline Lampl edged Rianna Valdes 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4) to give the No. 7 Stanford women (14-1, 5-0 Pac-12) a 4-3 victory over No. 16 USC (13-3, 3-1) in Los Angeles.
   Emily Arbuthnott, one of the Cardinal's top players, missed the match for an undisclosed reason.
   No. 11 UCLA (12-4, 4-1) routed No. 15 Cal (9-5, 3-2) 6-1 in Los Angeles.
   The No. 12 USC men (13-6, 3-0) outplayed No. 10 and host Stanford (12-4, 2-2) 4-1. No. 19 UCLA (10-4, 3-0) beat No. 40 Cal (9-9, 2-2) 4-2 in Berkeley.

Chaudhary coasts to boys 16 national title; Legaspi falls

   Top-seeded Aryan Chaudhary of Santa Clara beat 16th-seeded Quinn Vandecasteele of Murray, Utah, 6-3, 6-2 today to win the boys 16 singles title in the USTA National Indoor Championships in Wayland, Mass.
   Chaudhary, ranked fourth nationally in the 16s, survived a harrowing trek to the title. He won three consecutive three-setters, including 7-6 (3) in the third set in the quarterfinals, to reach the final.
   In the boys 14 singles final in Chicago, eighth-seeded Evan Wen of Morristown, N.J., dominated unseeded Herrick Thomas Legaspi of Sacramento 6-2, 6-2.
   Wen encountered little resistance in the tournament, except in his 7-5, 7-6 (5) semifinal victory over sixth-seeded Sebastian Gorzny of Irvine in the Los Angeles area.
   No Northern California boys or girls played in a doubles final in the 18s, 16s, 14s or 12s at various sites.

NorCal juniors to play for National Indoor singles titles

   Top-seeded Aryan Chaudhary and unseeded Herrick Thomas Legaspi will play for singles titles in their age groups in the USTA National Indoor Championships.
   Chaudhary, from Santa Clara, beat unseeded Liam Krall of Bronxville, N.Y., 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-2 in the boys 16s in Wayland, Mass.
   Chaudhary, ranked fourth nationally in the 16s, is scheduled to play 16th-seeded Quinn Vandecasteele of Murray, Utah, on Monday. Vandecasteele surprised fifth-seeded Thomas Paulsell of Seattle 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
   Legaspi, from Sacramento, ousted second-seeded Grant Lothringer of The Woodlands, Texas, 6-2, 6-2 in the boys 14s in Chicago.
   Legaspi will face eighth-seeded Evan Wen of Morristown, N.J. Wen topped sixth-seeded Sebastian Gorzny of Irvine in the Los Angeles area 7-5, 7-6 (5).

Chaudhary channels Nadal for Sectional boys 18 title

Aryan Chaudhary, left, beat Eric Hadigian 6-4, 6-0 for the
NorCal Boys 18 Junior Sectional singles title at the Natomas
Racquet Club in Sacramento. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- He's neither Spanish nor left-handed, and he doesn't have a corkscrew forehand.
   But Aryan Chaudhary (pronounced AH-ree-un CHOD-uh-ree) has some Rafael Nadal in him.
   Like Nadal, Chaudhary is tenacious.
   "I don't give up on any balls," Chaudhary asserted.
   Largely for that reason, the second-seeded Chaudhary dismantled top-seeded Eric Hadigian 6-4, 6-0 today to win the NorCal Boys 18 Junior Sectional singles title at the Natomas Racquet Club.
   Chaudhary, a 15-year-old resident of Santa Clara in the San Francisco Bay Area, won the last eight games.
   "It was pretty tough," insisted Chaudhary, adding that he has not lost a set in three matches against Hadigian (pronounced HAD-i-gun). "The guy hits the ball really deep. I just told myself I had to grind for every single ball, get every single ball back and do my best to put him under pressure. I just didn't give up on any ball. I think that worked out pretty well in the end."
   Another 15-year-old, Luke Casper of Santa Cruz, won the boys 16 title at Natomas. The top-seeded Casper overpowered fifth-seeded Mason Fung of San Francisco 6-2, 6-2.
   Hadigian, 6-foot-2 (1.88 meters) and 175 pounds (79.4 kilograms), repeatedly ripped flat groundstrokes into the corners during the final. And Chaudhary, 6 feet (1.83 meters) and 155 pounds (70.3 kilograms), repeatedly kept the ball in play until Hadigian made an error.

Aryan Chaudhary, playing great defense, won the last
 eight games of the final. Photo by Paul Bauman

   "He's a great side-to-side mover and made me hit a lot of balls," said Hadigian, an 18-year-old Sacramentan who's headed to the University of Arizona in the fall of 2019. "Looking back, it would have been nice when he was on defense if I closed the net a little better. Yeah, his defense is great."
   Hadigian, ranked first in Northern California and 65th nationally in the 18s, broke serve for the only time in the match to even the first set at 4-4. But Chaudhary, ranked second in the NorCal 18s and 16s and 22nd nationally in the 16s, broke right back when Hadigian netted a low backhand.
   Serving for the first set, Chaudhary trailed 0-40 but won the next five points.
   "I just told myself, I'm going to put a couple of first serves in and make him play; I'm not going to give him any easy errors," Chaudhary, the runner-up in last year's Easter Bowl 14s, said of the pivotal game. "Then I just ended up running for every single ball. I got a couple of unforced errors from his side, took control of the game and won the set."
   Hadigian lamented that he was "upset with myself for being undisciplined on a couple of those points at 0-40. On the 0-40 point, I went for a return I shouldn't have. That was tough. It would have been nice to get a break there."
   Chaudhary, who did not lose a set in six tournament matches, recorded his second service break of the second set to lead 3-0 on a point that typified the match. After he made a series of great gets, Hadigian slugged an overhead wide.

Luke Casper, left, defeated Mason Fung 6-2, 6-2 for the
boys 16 singles title. Photo by Paul Bauman

   On Chaudhary's first match point, Hadigian mis-hit a forehand that struck the opposite fence.

   "I was a little frustated with how I was playing (in the second set) and some of the errors I was making, but I gave it my all," Hadigian said. "He was playing too well and lifted his game as well, so this is a tough situation."
   Attending the match were Arizona coach Clancy Shields and his brother, Fresno State coach Luke Shields.
   Chaudhary, who will be a junior at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, eventually could face Hadigian, a senior who takes online classes, in the Pacific-12 Conference.
   "If I could get in, I would love to go to Stanford," Chaudhary said of the university located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Santa Clara. "That's always been my dream."
   Casper, playing aggressively, won the last four games of each set against Fung.
   "It seemed to work when I hit extremely hard and moved him around," said Casper, ranked fourth in NorCal and 72nd nationally in the 16s. "Then he gave me weak balls to put away."
   Whereas Casper did not lose more than three games in a set in his six tournament matches, Fung survived long three-set battles in the third round and quarterfinals. He overcame a 2-5 deficit in the third set and saved three match points in a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (8) victory over third-seeded Hugo Hashimoto of San Jose in the quarters.

Luke Casper, playing aggressively, won the last four
games of each set in the final. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Fung, ranked 10th in NorCal and 224th nationally in the 16s, said those marathons took a toll on him in the final but weren't "the main factor. He just played really well."
   Casper, who will be a sophomore at Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, is the fourth of seven children. The oldest, Caroline, represented the family at today's final.
   Caroline reached the NCAA Division III semifinals as a sophomore at Pomona College last year and the NCAA quarterfinals this year. Their father, a lawyer named Mark, played tennis at Santa Clara University.
   Fung, 16, will be a senior at St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco. He said he has not received any college scholarship offers and is looking at schools.
   Fung's brother Jayson plays at D-III Amherst in Massachusetts, but Mason said he could stay near home and play for one of his two coaches, Pablo Pires De Almeida, at the University of San Francisco or at Santa Clara.

NORCAL JUNIOR SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Sunday's results

Boys 18

At Natomas Racquet Club in Sacramento

Singles semifinals

   Eric Hadigian (1), Sacramento, def. Andrei Volgin (4), Fremont, 6-0, 7-5.
   Aryan Chaudhary (2), Santa Clara, def. Daniel Baturyn (3), San Leandro, 6-4, 6-2.

Singles final

   Chaudhary def. Hadigian, 6-4, 6-0.

Doubles final

    James Bell, Fremont, and Aryan Chaudhary (5), Santa Clara, def. Zachery Lim, Fairfield, and Daniel Papacica (1), Carmel, 7-5, 3-6 [10-7].

Boys 16

At Natomas Racquet Club in Sacramento

Singles semifinals

   Luke Casper (1), Santa Cruz, def. Philip Martin (9), Los Altos, 6-1, 6-2.
   Mason Fung (5), San Francisco, def. Theodore Dean (2), Livermore, 6-4, 6-1.

Singles final

   Casper def. Fung, 6-2, 6-2.

Doubles final

   Theodore Dean, Livermore, and Joseph Teh (4), San Jose, def. Luke Casper, Santa Cruz, and Philip Martin (2), Los Altos, 1-6, 6-1 [10-5].

Girls 18

At Copper River Country Club in Fresno

Singles final

   Anna Campana (3), Hillsborough, def. Muskan Mahajan, San Ramon, 6-4, 6-1.

Doubles semifinals

   Anna Campana, Hillsborough, and Jennamarie Gordon (1), Saratoga, def. Klara Kosan, Carmichael, and Jozephine Yen, Los Altos, walkover.
   Katherine Duong, Cupertino, and Stephanie Nguyen (2), Fremont, def. Taylor Gould, Los Altos, and Anna Yu, Palo Alto, walkover.

Doubles final

   Duong and Nguyen (2) def. Campana and Gordon, 6-3, 7-5.

Girls 16

At Copper River Country Club in Fresno

Singles final

   Allura Zamarripa (2), Saint Helena, def. Tomi Main (1), Seaside, 6-4, 7-6 (0).

Doubles semifinals

   Allura Zamarripa and Maribella Zamarripa (1), Saint Helena, def. Mirabelle Brettkelly and Claire Galerkin, San Francisco, walkover.
   Tomi Main, Seaside, and Makenna Thiel (2), Piedmont, def. Madison Weekley, Alamo, and Sophia Zaprianov, Concord, 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles final

   Zamarripa and Zamarripa (1) def. Main and Thiel (2), 6-0, 6-2.

Boys 14

At Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento

Singles semifinals

   Nicholas Chen (1), Oakland, def. Luke Bollinger (9), Napa, 6-1, 6-2.
   Dylan Tsoi (3), El Dorado Hills, def. Ryan Hoang (5), San Rafael, 6-3, 6-4.

Girls 14

At Arden Hills Club & Spa in Sacramento

Singles semifinals

   Rhea Rai (1), Cupertino, def. Emily Novikov (5), Campbell, 6-3, 6-3.
   Gayathri Krishnan (5), Cupertino, def. Emily Zhao (2), Cupertino, 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles semifinals

   Maryia Hrynashka (1), Rancho Cordova, and Lauren Joyce (1), Lodi, def. Gayathri Krishnan, Cupertino, and Kamila Wong, Palo Alto, 6-2, 7-5.
   Ava Martin, Menlo Park, and Natasha Rajaram (4), Cupertino, def. Sofia Daryaie, Los Gatos, and Emma Pell (2), San Rafael, 6-3, 4-6 [18-16].

Boys 12

At University of the Pacific in Stockton

Singles semifinals

   Kosei Ogata (1), Saratoga, def. Sterling Davies (3), El Dorado Hills, 6-3, 6-2.
   Min Htun (5), Sacramento, def. Karthikeya Gannavarapu (4), Pleasanton, 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles quarterfinals

   Nav Dayal, Roseville, and Karthikeya Gannavarapu (1), Pleasanton, def. Arnav Bhandari, San Ramon, and Jack Satterfield (5), Lafayette, 8-6.
   Ted Nguyen, Elk Grove, and Daniel Wu (3), El Dorado Hills, def. Ajay Ravichandran, Union City, and Elbert Said (5), San Ramon, 8-4.
   Kosei Ogata and Somei Ogata (5), Saratoga, def. Arin Pallegar, Granite Bay, and Tej Patil (4), San Jose, 8-6.
   Min Htun, Sacramento, and Luke Stratakos (2), Saratoga, def. Dhyey Patel, Napa, and Aryan Yenni (5), Fremont, 8-6.

Girls 12

At University of the Pacific in Stockton

Singles semifinals

   Aspen Schuman (1), Menlo Park, def. Clarissa Sutami (9), Folsom, 6-2, 6-2.
   Penelope Wong (9), Mountain View, def. Aoi Kunimoto (2), Palo Alto, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles semifinals

   Anushka Jaiswal, Fremont, and Aspen Schuman (1), Menlo Park, def. Clarissa Sutami, Folsom, and Penelope Wong, Mountain View, 7-5, 6-3.
   Varsha Jawadi, San Mateo, and Mila Mulready, Burlingame, def. Rachel Hernandez and Sophie Hernandez (2), Los Gatos, 7-5, 6-1.

Nelson wins Easter Bowl title, but Chaudhary falls

Priya Nelson of Sacramento poses with her Easter Bowl girls 12
singles gold ball and sportsmanship award. At right is her coach,
Joseph Gilbert. Photo courtesy of Joseph Gilbert

   Northern Californians went 1 for 2 on Thursday in Easter Bowl singles finals at Indian Wells, Calif.
   Priya Nelson of Sacramento dominated Eleana Yu of Mason, Ohio, 6-1, 6-3 in a matchup of unseeded players in the girls 12s.
   But No. 2 seed Aryan Chaudhary of Santa Clara lost to No. 9 Alexander Bernard of Naples, Fla., 6-4, 6-2. Chaudhary won the doubles title with Timothy Li of Valley Village, Calif., on Wednesday.
   Meanwhile, No. 8 Ryder Jackson of Nicasio held off No. 11 Alex Lee of Oak Brook, Ill., 7-5, 7-6 (4) in the boys 16 quarterfinals. Jackson will meet No. 13 Stefan Dostanic, an Irvine resident who outlasted unseeded Jacob Bullard of Calabasas 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
   In the boys 18s, No. 4 Sam Riffice from Roseville beat unseeded Trey Hilderbrand of San Antonio 6-2, 6-3. Riffice will play No. 7 Brian Cernoch of Rockville, Md. Unseeded Paul Barretto of Tiburon fell to No. 1 Trent Bryde of Suwanee, Ga., 7-5, 6-2.
   Unseeded Katie Volynets, 15, of Walnut Creek lost to No. 3 Whitney Osuigwe of Bradenton, Fla., 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Ovrootsky reaches two finals in Winter Nationals

   Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose on Sunday reached the girls 12 singles and doubles finals in the USTA National Winter Championships in Tucson, Ariz.
   Ovrootsky, seeded No. 1, dominated No. 10 Nikita Vishwase of Phoenix 6-2, 6-0 to set up a match against No. 2 Matilyn Wang of Scottsdale, Ariz., for the title.
    No. 4 seeds Ovrootsky and Anushka Khune of Palo Alto in the San Francisco Bay Area defeated No. 2 Vishwase and Wang 7-5, 7-5 and will play No. 8 Katherine Hui of San Diego and Emmie Moore of Salt Lake City.
   Also in Tucson, No. 2 seed Aryan Chaudhary of Santa Clara lost to No. 3 Matthew Robinson of Wynnewood, Pa., 6-1, 7-5 in the boys 14 semifinals.
   No. 2 seeds Allura Zamarripa and Maribella Zamarripa of St. Helena in the Napa area fell to No. 3 Kailey Evans of Ennis, Texas, and Katherine Petty of Dallas 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in the girls 14 semis.
   Rain wiped out play in the 18s and 16s in Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix. Scheduled to play in the singles semis today at 9 a.m. MST are No. 16 seed Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael in the Sacramento region in the boys 18s, unseeded Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville (between Sacramento and San Francisco) in the boys 16s and No. 7 Sara Choy of Palo Alto in the girls 18s. The finals are scheduled for noon.
   McDaniel will take on No. 1 seed Brandon Nakashima of San Diego. Choy won the 16s last year.
   In today's girls 18 doubles final, No. 3 seeds Carolyn Campana of Hillsborough in the Bay Area and Ivana Corley of Albuquerque, N.M., are set to meet No. 5 Jessica Aragon of Plano, Texas, and Emilee Duong of Placentia in the Los Angeles area at 9 a.m.
   There is a zero percent chance of rain today in Scottsdale and Tucson. according to weather.com.

Chaudhary, Willy earn Sectional 14 singles titles

No. 1 seed Aryan Chaudhary, left, of Santa Clara subdued No. 2
Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville for the boys 14 singles title in the
NorCal Junior Sectional Championships. Photo by Paul Bauman

   SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Aryan Chaudhary should have lost the first set.
   And the second set.
   Instead, he pulled out both to claim the boys 14 singles title in the NorCal Junior Sectional Championships.
   The top-seeded Chaudhary, from Santa Clara, overcame deficits of 3-5 in both sets and a set point against him in the second set to subdue second-seeded Marcus McDaniel of Vacaville 7-5, 7-6 (1) on Tuesday at the Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa.
   "I was making a lot more balls (than McDaniel)," the 13-year-old Chaudhary, ranked second in the 14s in Northern California, explained after the baseline battle in 91-degree (32.8 Celsius) heat. "He just wasn't (on) his game today. I wasn't playing too well, but I was able to force him to make some mistakes. That's how I was able to close out the match."
   McDaniel, ranked fourth in the NorCal 14s at 14 years old, agreed but added that he made a strategic mistake.
   "I just couldn't make that many balls," said the 5-foot-10 (1.78-meter), 130-pound (59-kilogram) McDaniel, who has a punishing forehand. "I played the wrong shot (of Chaudhary's). I should have played the other side. I played his backhand too much, and he's too solid on the backhand side."     
   On the adjacent court, second-seeded Avantika Willy of Dublin beat fifth-seeded Laura Sanders of El Cerrito 6-3, 7-5 for the girls 14 crown.

No. 2 seed Avantika Willy, above, of Dublin
beat No. 5 Laura Sanders of El Cerrito for
the girls 14 crown. Photo by Paul Bauman

   McDaniel served for both sets at 5-3 but surrendered the last four games of the first set and squandered a set point at 5-4 in the second set when he sailed a routine backhand long.
   "I was just starting to press too much, trying to keep pressure on him," McDaniel said. "I wasn't hitting the ball as well as I could, which led to me missing even more and led to me going downhill faster instead of letting him make the errors."
   The 5-foot-9 (1.75-meter), 140-pound (63.5-kilogram) Chaudhary, meanwhile, said he "started staying more calm and trying to reduce my errors and force him to make more errors."
   McDaniel still had a chance to force a decisive third set but dropped the last six points of the tiebreaker to end the match. During the stretch, he committed four unforced errors and a double fault and returned a first serve long.
   "I felt his ball was coming off the strings faster," McDaniel said of the tiebreaker. "He was kind of loose because he had the (first) set under his belt. ... I couldn't make my backhand. It's usually pretty solid."
   McDaniel strongly resembles Piedmont's Mackenzie McDonald, who turned pro this month after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior, in several ways. Their first and last names are similar, they look alike facially, and both have slight builds.
   Chaudhary swept in singles and doubles, as he did last year in the 12s in Sunnyvale. Willy, however, won her first sectional title.
   "I just came out mentally prepared," said Willy, who will turn 14 on July 25. "(Sanders) is a great player. I was just really focused, and every point, I was mentally in it."
   Sanders, who was not available for comment, was coming off long three-setters in the quarterfinals and semifinals. But Willy said Sanders didn't appear tired.
   "She may have been, but I couldn't tell," Willy admitted.

NORCAL JUNIOR SECTIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tuesday's finals

At UC Santa Cruz

Girls 18

Singles

   Carolyn Campana (4), Hillsborough, def. Hind Abdelouahid (9), San Jose, walkover.

Doubles

   Hind Abdelouahid, San Jose, and Katie Volynets (3), Walnut Creek, def. Niluka Madurawe, Sunnyvale, and Katya Tabachnik (1), San Francisco, 7-5, 6-4.

Girls 16

Singles

   Connie Ma (2), Dublin, def. Angela Huang, Piedmont, 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles

   Katherine Duong, Cupertino, and Connie Ma (2), Dublin, def. Pamela Duke, San Jose, and Jacquie Tan (1), Elk Grove, 6-3, 6-4.

At Arden Hills Resort & Spa in Sacramento

Boys 14

Singles

   Aryan Chaudhary (1), Santa Clara, def. Marcus McDaniel (2), Vacaville, 7-5, 7-6 (1).

Doubles

   Aryan Chaudhary, Santa Clara, and Hugo Hashimoto (1), San Jose, def. Marcus McDaniel, Vacaville, 0-6, 7-6 (4) [10-2].

Girls 14

Singles

   Avantika Willy (2), Dublin, def. Laura Sanders (5), El Cerrito, 6-3, 7-5.

Doubles

   Allura Zamarripa and Maribella Zamarripa (1), Saint Helena, def. Tiffany Boudagian, South San Francisco, and Vivian Ovrootsky, San Jose, 6-2, 6-1.