2015 was a banner year for juniors in Player Development, with NorCal Juniors on national teams and playing in top tournaments across the nation!
Michaela Gordon at Wimbledon 2015. Photo credit: USTA
January saw some big tournament victories right after the New Year, with Michaela Gordon (Los Altos Hills) sweeping the singles and doubles titles at the Coffee Bowl ITF in Costa Rica. She followed with by reaching the girls’ 18s singles semifinals and the doubles final at the International Spring Championships in April. In April, Gordon qualified for the Junior Fed Cup. Before competing at the Fed Cup, she reached the girls’ singles quarterfinals at Wimbledon! Michaela won her only singles match at the Fed Cup to help Team USA to a second-place finish.
Sam Riffice of Roseville had a stellar summer, as he won singles and doubles championships at the USTA Boys’ 18s National Clay Court championships in July. Earlier in the year, Riffice reached the boys’ 18s singles and doubles finals at the Easter Bowl in April. He qualified for and competed for Team USA in the Junior Davis Cup, where he went 1-0 in singles and 1-1 in doubles before suffering an injury as Team USA finished in seventh place.
NorCal junior CiCi Bellis of Atherton rang in 2015 with a singles title at the USTA Pro Circuit $25,000 event in Rancho Santa Fe in February. In June, Bellis advanced to the girls’ singles semifinals at the junior French Open in Paris, and in August she reached the third round of women’s qualifying at the US Open.
Mackenzie McDonald of Piedmont saw tremendous success in the 2015 USTA Pro Circuit, as he reached the singles semifinals at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit Men’s Futures in Calabasas in April. Later in September, McDonald reached the singles final at the $10,000 USTA Futures in Claremont, Calif., won the doubles title at the $10,000 Futures in Costa Mesa, Calif., then reached the semifinals at the $100,000 Challenger in Tiburon, Calif.
Karl Lee (right) with Hunter Heck at the Easter Bowl in April 2015.
Two NorCal juniors took home doubles titles at the Easter Bowl, with Cameron Klinger winning in the boys’ 18s doubles and Karl Lee winning in the boys’ 12s doubles. Lee followed with a great summer as he won the USTA Boys’ 12s National doubles championship in August and was also a finalist in the USTA Boys’ 12s National Clay Court singles in July. Sara Choy of San Francisco won the Easter Bowl girls’ 14s doubles title.
Sean Hill of Berkeley reached the singles final at the ITF Grade 4 Barbados Scotiabank Junior International Event in April, as well as the semifinals at the Grade 4 Open du Conseil General in Guadelupe. Hill also won the doubles title at the ITF Grade 3 Bytom Cup junior event in Poland in June.
Also in June, Lane Leschly of Atherton qualified and reached the singles final at the ITF Grade 5 Bank of Bermuda Foundation junior tournament. Leschly also reached the boys’ singles semifinals at the Grade 5 Luzern Junior Competition tournament in Switzerland in September.
Keenan Mayo of Roseville reached the singles final at the Grade 5 Canadian Saville junior tournament in Edmonton in July. Vignesh Subramanyan of Fremont reached the singles semifinals at the Grade 4 ITF Jamaica Junior International, also in July.
In August, Collin Altamirano of Yuba City reached the singles semifinals at the $15,000 Futures event in Bolzano, Italy. He followed by reaching the singles semifinals at the $10,000 Futures event in Claremont, Calif., in September. Katie Volynets of Walnut Creek was crowned the USTA Girls’ 14s National singles champion in August.
We’re so incredibly proud of our NorCal Juniors and their success on the national and international scenes! Keep making us proud on the Player Development circuit!
We will be honoring these and many more NorCal Juniors at our Juniors Awards Party on Dec. 19. Stay tuned to our blog and our Facebook page for more info!