Rose Garden Resident
Sports
Top stars in Almaden for USTA Girl's 18 Nationals
By Kevin Sparrer
In order to be the best you have to beat the best, and that's just what 192 female tennis players have in mind. The Almaden Valley Athletic Club is hosting the 17th USTA Girl's 18 National Championship Level 1 Tournament on Aug. 6-13, and the winners in singles and doubles play will receive wild card berths into the U.S. Open where the girls will be testing their skill against some of the best players in the world.
"It's an honor to once again host this year's USTA Girls National Championship Tournament at AVAC," Joe Shank, co-founder and owner of AVAC and this year's honorary tournament chairman, said in a press release. "The girls are an inspiration to other young hopefuls and help keep the spirit of tennis alive for future generations."
Tournament play will begin on Aug. 6 at 8 a.m. and the finals will be held on Aug. 13. Admission is free to the public.
The tournament takes almost as many volunteers to run as it does athletes to participate with almost 175 volunteers and members of the AVAC staff working behind the scenes to make sure the tournament goes smoothly. Any proceeds from the tournament will go to the After-School All-Stars organization that is dedicated to giving children the opportunity to take part in sports and other after-school programs.
Throughout the long life of the tournament, it has seen some high caliber players as champions. In 1989, Jennifer Capriati took first place and she was followed by Lindsay Davenport in 1991. Laura Granville won the tournament twice, in 1998 and 1999.
It was Mary Gambale who walked away as the singles champion in the 2005 tournament. Gambale has returned this year as the No. 1 seed with hopes of defending her crown on the court.
Just behind Gambale last year was Alexa Glatch in second place. While Glatch excelled on her own, she also played well as part of a unit, winning the doubles competition with partner Vania King.
The tournament will take place at both the AVAC tennis courts and at the Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club.
For more information on the tournament, visit www.ustagirls.com.
Tennis tourneys
In other tennis news, Catherine Nguyen of Saratoga edged Giannina Ong of Cupertino 6-4, 6-2 to win the girls 14 singles title at the Oakland City Junior Open tennis tournament on July 24.
Nguyen had beaten Cynthia Chiu of San Jose 6-1, 6-0 in the semifinals and Anastasia Kaiser of Orinda 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Roxanna Pourmirzaie of Almaden reached the finals in the girls 18 singles division before losing 6-2, 6-2 to Christina Hu of Palo Alto. Pourmirzaie had defeated Allison Baulis of San Anselmo 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals and Carmen Lam of San Francisco 6-4, 6-1 in the quarters.
Rohan Mehra of Saratoga teamed with Rohit Jayakar of Los Altos in the boys 16 doubles division, but the pair dropped a 6-0, 6-3 nod to Thomas Norton of San Jose and Jason Huang of Fremont in the semifinals.
Eric Gast played his way to a title in the ClubSport Valley Vista Junior Open on July 17. The Saratoga standout whipped Michael Hui 6-4, 6-1 in the boys 16 singles finals after taking Michael Conroy of San Jose 6-1, 6-1 in the semis.
Andrew Hsieh of Saratoga cruised to a win in the boys 14 singles division at the Twin Arbors Junior Open on July 15. Hsieh handled Matthew Roberts of San Jose 6-1, 6-3 in the finals after taking Brandon Sutter of El Dorado Hills 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.
