This year’s USTA International Spring Championships began on Saturday in Carson, bringing the world’s top junior tennis players to the Home Depot Center’s USTA Training Center.
The fifth annual tournament consists of some of junior tennis’ biggest tennis stars of tomorrow – ranked both nationally and internationally.
This year the tough competitors to look out for are 15-year-old Grace Min, of Duluth, Georgia, and Raymond Sarmiento, of Fontana, California, just to name a few. Last year, Min was a finalist in the championships, falling to American Sloane Stephens, who recently turned pro this year. Sarmiento, who is ranked 28th in the world, is also a favorite for this year’s title because he already trains at the Home Depot Center every week. In 2008, current ATP tennis star Melanie Oudin was the girls 18s singles champion.
Five Santa Barbara locals, Spencer Simon, Rachel Decker-Sadowski, Lauren Stratman, Sasha Gryaznov and Ariel Beckerman, started play on Saturday in the tournament’s qualifying rounds.
Simon, the No.1 seed in the boys 18s qualifying draw, coincidentally played Gryaznov in the first round. Simon cruised through the match 6-3, 6-1 and made the main draw by winning two more matches after Gryaznov. Simon then won his first-round match in the main draw over Mexico’s Andres Cerdan 6-1, 6-2. Simon, no longer seeded, faces 13-seed Shaun Bernstein in the second round.
In the girls 16s main draw, Lauren Stratman pulled off an upset by ousting the No. 14 seed, Hannah Camhi of Woodbury, New York, 7-5, 6-3 in the first round. Stratman then took the first set off fellow American Jana McCord in the second round but McCord rallied for the 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
In the girls 18s, Rachel Decker-Sadowski won her first two matches in the qualifying draw, taking out rival Brittany Warly of Colorado in the first round, 6-3, 6-3. Decker-Sadowski’s chances of qualifying for the main draw ended when she fell to Megan Heneghan, 6-1, 6-2.
Also in the girls 18s, wild-card entry Ariel Beckerman played Akiko Okuda in the first round, falling 6-0, 6-0.
Main draw singles matches will continue to be played through the rest of the week, and doubles qualifying began on Tuesday.
The finals will take place for the boys’ and girls’ 16s on Saturday and the 18s finals will be played on Sunday.
For more information on Draws and Results, click here.
