3 Florida Jrs. Bring Home Titles at USTA National Sweet Sixteen Tennis

One Florida player in singles and two in doubles won titles last week at the USTA National Sweet Sixteen, the tournament that features only 16 of the top U.S. players in the country in the boys’ and girls’ ages 16 and 14 age groups, contested in Delray Beach, Fla.

“Singles and doubles draws are capped at 16 so it’s not a surprise that the competition was tight from the beginning,” said Tournament Director John Butler of the rash of early upsets during the tournament.

Bradenton’s top-seeded Whitney Osuigwe in the Girls’ 14s was a dominant force throughout the event, failing to drop a set and in the final rolling past Boca Raton’s Angelica Blake 6-0, 6-2.

Florida players capturing doubles titles were Aleksandar Kovacevic (Boca Raton) in the Boys’ 16s, teaming with Robert Maciag (Sterling, Va.) to defeat Chambers Easterling (Spartanburg, S.C.)/Sean Sculley (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4; and Nicholas Garcia (Hollywood, Fla.), teaming with Leighton Allen (Austin, Texas) to defeat Garrett Johns (Atlanta, Ga.)/Cole Rassner (Houston, Texas)  6-4, 6-2 for the Boys’ 14s title.

Other division winners were:

Boys’ 16 Singles: (2) Sean Sculley (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) d. (3) Mac Kiger (Katonah, N.Y.) 6-0, 6-1
Boys’ 14 Singles: (3) Garrett Johns (Atlanta, Ga.) d. (2) Ronan Jachuck (Boca Raton, Fla.) 7-6, 6-4
Girls’ 16 Singles: (2) Nicole Mossmer (La Jolla, Calif.) d. Clare McKee (Boca Raton, Fla.) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
Girls’ 16 Doubles: Taylor Bridges (Mesa, Ariz.)/Hannah Lairmore (Mobile, Ala.) d. McCartney Kessler (Calhoun, Ga.)/Emma Kurtz (Atlanta, Ga.) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
Girls’ 14 Doubles: Chloe Beck (Watkinsville, Ga.)/Emma Navarro (Charleston, S.C.) d. (2) Angelica Blake (Boca Raton, Fla.)/Alana Wolfberg (Orlando, Fla.) 7-5, 6-2

“The quality of the matches was something promising for the future of American tennis,” Butler said. “Thank you to our host site, Delray Beach Tennis Center.”

For more tournament info go to http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=153894#&&s=0.