
Katie Volynets, of Walnut Creek, Calif., and Zachary Svajda of San Diego with their trophies. Photos by USTA.
Top American juniors Katie Volynets, of Walnut Creek, Calif., and Zachary Svajda, of San Diego, won the USTA Girls’ and Boys’ 18s National Championships this past weekend, each earning wild cards into the main draw of the US Open and headlining the annual USTA National Championships that took place last week.
The nation’s top junior tennis players competed in eight USTA National Championships across America. In addition to the US Open main draw wild cards awarded to the 18s singles and doubles champions, the singles runners-up in the Boys’ and Girls’ 18s divisions received wild card entries into the US Open Qualifying Tournament set to being on Monday, Aug. 19 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Meanwhile, the Boys’ and Girls’ 16s champions earn wild card entries into the US Open Junior Championships.
Seventeen-year-old Volynets, won the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championship, defeating Emma Navarro (18, Charleston, S.C.), 6-2, 6-4 in the finals at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. Volynets, who will be making her US Open main draw debut, reached the semifinals at the ITF World Tennis Tour W25 events in Florence, S.C., and Norman, Okla., as a qualifier earlier this year. As the runner up, Navarro will compete in the US Open Qualifying Tournament.
Svajda defeated Govind Nanda (18, Loma Linda, Calif.), 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3, 6-1, to win the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championship in Kalamazoo, Mich. The sixteen-year-old will be the youngest player to compete in the men’s singles main draw since American Donald Young did it in 2007. Nanda, who reached the boys’ 18s singles and doubles finals, received a wild card into the US Open Qualifying Tournament.
Reese Brantmeier (14, Whitewater, Wis.) and Alexander Bernard (15, Bonita Springs, Fla.) won the USTA Girls’ and Boys’ 16s National Championships singles titles, and will receive wild cards into the main draw of the US Open Junior Championships.
Complete results of the USTA National Championships can be found below. The complete draws are available at the USTA National Championships page on TennisLink.
USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships
Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego, August 3-11
Singles: (2) Katie Volynets (Walnut Creek, Calif.) d. (3) Emma Navarro (Charleston, S.C.), 6-2, 6-4
Doubles: (13) Abigail Forbes (Raleigh, N.C.) / Alexa Noel (Summit, N.J.) d. Gabriella Price (Boca Raton, Fla.) / Katrina Scott (Woodland Hills, Calif.), 7-5, 6-1
USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships
Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Mich., August 2-11
Singles: (6) Zachary Svajda (San Diego) d. (5) Govind Nanda (Cerritos, Calif.), 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3, 6-1
Doubles: (1) Martin Damm (Bradenton, Fla.) / Toby Kodat (Bradenton, Fla.) d. (3) Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, Calif.) / Nanda, 6-3, 6-4
USTA Boys’ 16s National Championships
Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Mich., August 2-11
Singles: (1) Alexander Bernard (Bonita Springs, Fla.) d. (4) Aidan Mayo (Torrance, Calif.), 5-7, 6-2, 7-5
Doubles: (7) Hugo Hashimoto (San Jose, Calif.) / Benjamin Kittay (Potomac, Md.) d. (11) Lucas Brown (Plano, Texas) / Aidan Kim (Milford, Mich.), 6-4, 6-3
USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s National Championships
Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego, August 3-11
Singles: (14) Reese Brantmeier (Whitewater, Wis.) d. (1) Valencia Xu (Livingston, N.J.), 6-2, 6-0
Doubles: (17) Elise Wagle (Niskayuna, N.Y.) / Katja Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) d. Tara Malik (Seacaucus, N.J.) / Nikita Vishwase (Phoenix, Ariz.), 6-3, 6-0
USTA Boys’ 14s National Championships
Mobile Area Tennis Association, Mobile, Ala., August 3-10
Singles: (4) Cooper Williams (Greenwich, Conn.) d. (3) Nicholas Godsick (Chagrin Falls, Ohio), 6-1, 7-5
Doubles: (6) Alexander Razeghi (Humble, Texas) / Dylan Tsoi (El Dorado Hills, Calif.) d. (5) James Lian (Parsippany, N.J.) / Nicholas Mangiapane (Davidson, N.C.), 6-1, 6-1
USTA Girls’ 14s National Championships
Metro Tennis Associates, Rome, Ga., August 3-10
Singles: (3) Theadora Rabman (Port Washington, N.Y.) d. Brooklyn Olson (Mission Hills, Kan.), 6-7(1), 6-1, 6-1
Doubles: (17) Ananya Annapantula (Mason, Ohio) / Maddy Zampardo (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.) d. (17) Macy Hitchcock (Eaton, Ohio) / Piper Charney (Prospect, Ky.), 6-4, 6-0
USTA Boys’ 12s National Championships
Mobile Area Tennis Association, Mobile, Ala., August 3-10
Singles: (3) Maxwell Exsted (Savage, Minn.) d. (2) Abhinav Chunduru (Plano, Texas), 7-6(5), 6-0
Doubles: (2) Chunduru / Prathinav Chunduru (Plano, Texas) d. (1) Exsted / Cooper Woestendick (Olathe, Kan.), 6-4, 6-3
USTA Girls’ 12s National Championships
Windward Lake Club, Alpharetta, Ga., August 4-10
Singles: (4) Claire An (New York) d. (1) Bella Payne (Taylors, S.C.), 6-2, 6-2
Doubles: (1) Haylee Conway (Bellevue, Wash.) / Aspen Schuman (Menlo Park, Calif.) d. (5) Kate Fakih (Arcadia, Calif.) / Victoria Osuigwe (Bradenton, Fla.), 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level — from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 655,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network. For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
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