NorCal juniors dominate; Brooksby routs top seed

Connie Ma, 15, of Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area swept
the girls 18 titles in the USTA National Winter Championships
in Orlando, Fla. 2018 photo by Paul Bauman

   Juniors from Northern California, not more-heralded Florida or Southern California, dominated the singles events in past week's USTA National Winter Championships.
   Of the eight singles titles offered in Orlando, Fla., (boys and girls 18s and 16s) and Tucson, Ariz., (boys and girls 14s and 12s), NorCal players won five.
   Ishaan Ravichander (boys 18), Connie Ma (girls 18), and Luke Casper (boys 16) today joined Ria Bhakta (girls 14) and Mason Nguyen (boys 12) as champions.
   The 17th-seeded Ravichander, 16, defeated ninth-seeded Zachery Lim 7-6 (2) on a hard court at the USTA National Campus in a matchup of players from Sacramento's JMG Tennis Academy.
   Ravichander lost two sets in his seven tournament matches, including his 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1 victory over 17th-seeded Finn Garner of Annapolis, Md., in the fourth round.
   The fourth-seeded Ma, a 15-year-old resident of Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area, downed third-seeded Alana Wolfberg of Orlando 6-4, 6-0.
   Ma, only 5-foot-3 (1.60 meters) and 95 pounds (43.1 kilograms), won the last nine games against the Oklahoma State signee and dropped no more than four games in a set in the tournament. She also won the doubles title with Anna Campana of Hillsborough in the Bay Area on Thursday.
   The fifth-seeded Casper, a Santa Cruz resident who turned 16 on Dec. 16, beat 13th-seeded Quinn Snyder of Delran, N.J., 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Har-Tru at the USTA National Campus.
   Casper never lost a set in the tournament, winning three tiebreakers.
   USTA Pro Circuit -- Unseeded Jenson Brooksby, an 18-year-old amateur from Carmichael in the Sacramento area, routed top-seeded Dmitry Popko, a 22-year-old Russia native who plays for Kazakhstan, 6-3, 6-0 in 68 minutes in $25,000 Los Angeles to reach the semifinals of a professional tournament for the second time.
   Popko, at No. 351, is the highest-ranked player and second consecutive top seed whom Brooksby has beaten. He also shocked 6-foot-8 (2.03-meter) Michael Redlicki of Fayetteville, Ark., en route to the semis of the $25,000 Waco (Texas) Futures in November.
   Brooksby, who plans to enroll at Baylor in Waco in the fall or next January, will meet wild card Brandon Holt, a USC junior and the son of International Tennis Hall of Famer Tracy Austin.

Ma, 2 others reach Winter finals; Brooksby survives; etc.

Connie Ma, 15, of Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area, will
play for the girls 18 singles title in the USTA National Winter
Championships in Orlando, Fla. Photo by Paul Bauman

   Three more Northern California juniors will play for singles titles in the USTA National Winter Championships.
   Advancing today in Orlando, Fla., were 15-year-old Connie Ma of Dublin in the San Francisco Bay Area in the girls 18s, Zachery Lim of Fairfield in the boys 18s and Luke Casper of Santa Cruz in the boys 16s.
   Ria Bhakta of Saratoga in the Bay Area and Mason Nguyen of El Dorado Hills in the Sacramento region won the girls 14 and boys 12 crown, respectively, in Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday.
   The fourth-seeded Ma, only 5-foot-3 (1.60 meters) and 95 pounds (43.1 kilograms),  routed eighth-seeded Carly Briggs of Calhoun, Ga., 6-2, 6-1. Ma will face third-seeded Alana Wolfberg, an Orlando resident and Oklahoma State recruit who topped unseeded India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon in the Bay Area 7-6 (4), 6-4.
   Anna Campana of Hillsborough in the Bay Area and Ma, seeded 15th in doubles, beat fourth-seeded Allie Gretkowski of Mount Pleasant, S.C., and Anna Ross of Charleston, S.C., 6-4, 6-2 for the title.
   The ninth-seeded Lim defeated 14th-seeded Daniel Milavsky of Needham, Mass., 7-6 (4), 6-2 to set up a match against 17th-seeded Ishaan Ravichander of Belle Mead, N.J.
   Casper, seeded fifth, eliminated 11th-seeded Samir Banerjee of Basking Ridge, N.J., 6-1, 7-5. Casper will meet 13th-seeded Quinn Snyder of Delran, N.J.
   ITF World Tour -- Jenson Brooksby, 18, of Carmichael in the Sacramento region saved two match points in a 2-6, 7-6 (10), 7-5 victory over Brandon Nakashima, 17, of San Diego in the second round of the Los Angeles $25,000 Pro Tournament.
   Brooksby, who's headed to Baylor, won all three of his matches against Nakashima last year in straight sets. Each match was in the juniors, including the best-of-five-set final in the USTA Boys 18 National Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich.
   Brooksby will face top-seeded Dmitry Popko, a 22-year-old Russia native who plays for Kazakhstan, in the quarterfinals.
   WTA Tour -- Unseeded Viktoria Kuzmova of Slovakia held off Amanda Anisimova, a 17-year-old wild card from Aventura, Fla., 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand.
   Anisimova, who won her first professional title at 15 in the 2017 Sacramento Challenger, ousted fifth-seeded Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic in the second round.
   ATP Challenger Tour -- No. 14 seed Mathias Bourgue of France defeated wild card Sam Riffice, a Florida freshman from Roseville in the Sacramento area, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the third round of the $50,000 Orlando (Fla.) Open.
   Riffice stunned fourth-seeded Filip Peliwo of Canada in the second round. Peliwo won the 2012 Wimbledon boys singles title.

Lim, Volynets take titles in Spring Championships

   Northern California juniors earned two more titles on Saturday in the USTA International Spring Championships in Carson.
   Zachery Lim of Fairfield won the boys 16s singles championship, and Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek claimed the girls 18 doubles crown with Natasha Subhash of Fairfax, Va.
   Twins Allura and Maribella Zamarripa of Saint Helena took the girls 16s doubles title on Friday.
   Lim, seeded third, whipped fifth-seeded Maxwell McKennon of Newport Beach 6-0, 6-2. Lim, 16,  did not lose a set in his five tournament matches after receiving a first-round bye. He dropped only three games in the semifinals.
   The third-seeded Volynets and Subhash beat fifth-seeded Georgia Drummy of Ireland and Alexandra Vagramov of Canada 6-3, 6-3. Volynets, 16, won the Easter Bowl 18s singles title last week at Indian Wells.

NorCal's Houghton reaches Easter Bowl girls 16 final

   Unseeded India Houghton of Belvedere Tiburon routed Hibah Shaikh of Teaneck, N.J., 6-1, 6-3 on Friday to reach the girls 16 final in the Easter Bowl at Indian Wells.
   Houghton will play No. 11 seed Anessa Lee of San Marino on Saturday. Lee beat No. 8 Chidimma Okpara of Bronxville, N.Y., 6-2, 6-4.
   Northern California also will have a representative in the girls 16 doubles final. No. 4 seeds Allura Zamarripa and Maribella Zamarripa of Saint Helena eliminated unseeded Rosie Garcia Gross of New York and Elizabeth Goldsmith of Chula Vista 6-3, 6-2.
   The Zamarripa twins, who have not lost a set in the tournament, will meet No. 3 seeds Amanda Chan of Pasadena and Okpara.
   In the boys 16 doubles semifinals, No. 1 seeds Keshav Chopra of Marietta, Ga., and Coy Simon of Charleston, S.C., defeated No. 4 Zachery Lim of Fairfield and Alex Lin of Gold River 7-5, 6-1.
   Meanwhile, unseeded Jenson Brooksby of Carmichael and No. 15 seed Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek advanced to the boys and girls 18 singles semifinals, respectively.
   Brooksby, 17, dominated No. 11 seed Brandon Nakashima of San Diego 6-2, 6-3. Brooksby will meet unseeded Siem Woldeab of La Mesa. Woldeab surprised No. 2 Drew Baird of Holly Springs, N.C., 6-7, 7-6, 6-3.
   Volynets, 16, advanced by walkover against No. 11 Chloe Beck of Watkinsville, Ga. Volynets will play unseeded Emma Navarro, a resident of Charleston, S.C., who ousted No. 2 Margaryta Bilokin of New Canaan, Conn., 6-3, 6-4.