Vero Beach’s Levelston Runner-up at USTA National Indoor Chps. Tennis

From left: winner Grace Levelston and runner-up Lara Smejkal in June after the girls’ 12s final at the USTA Florida “Bobby Curtis” Junior State Championships

Vero Beach’s Grace Levelston’s star continues to rise on the Florida and national junior tennis circuits.

In June the 7th grader won her first Florida state singles title at the USTA Florida “Bobby Curtis” Junior State Championships in the girls’ 12s division, in the final rolling past No. 1 seed Lara Smejkal (Boca Raton) 6-1, 6-2. This past weekend she finished runner-up in doubles at the USTA Girls’ 12s National Indoor Championships in Chatham, N.J.

Partnering with Meera Jesudason (Berwyn, Pa.) as the No. 4 seeds, they fell 7-6(7) in the one-set championship match to No. 3 seeds Aubrey Nisbet (Wilmington, Del.) and Esha Velaga (Colmar, Pa.).

The USTA National Junior Indoor Championships returned to the junior tournament calendar this year after a 19-year hiatus. It was first played at the 18s level in 1915 (boys) and 1920 (girls), and expanded with the 14s and 12s age groups in 1972. The event was phased out of the national junior circuit in 1999 as the USTA implemented an “optimum” competition calendar for junior players, but was brought back this year in recognition of the amount of indoor competition played in northern or cold-weather states.

Currently at No. 1 in Florida and No. 12 on the USTA national girls’ 12s singles rankings, Levelston is a five-star blue chip player on TennisRecruiting.net. She trains at and is provided training and travel scholarships by the Mardy Fish Foundation center in Vero Beach and the Lozano Osorio Tennis Academy.

For more USTA National Indoor Championships info go to www.usta.com/news.