Here’s a look at some of the great accomplishments by #TeamNorCalJuniors in the month of February!
CiCi Bellis (left) and Ingrid Neel won the doubles title at the Dow Corning Tennis Classic.
CiCi Bellis of Atherton kicked off the month by winning the doubles title in the Dow Corning Tennis Classic. She teamed up with Ingrid Neel and earned a wild card entry before knocking off the top three seeds in the draw to win the doubles title. CiCi also won the Larry Reed “Most Promising Newcomer” Award, awarded annually to the a player in the DCTC who has shown outstanding promise early in their professional career!
CiCi advanced to the second round in the singles draw. Michaela Gordon of Los Altos also competed in the singles draw, falling to eventual runner-up Robin Anderson in the opening round.
The USTA National Selection Tournaments took place in mid-February, and a slew of NorCal players had major successes in Palm Desert and Claremont!
On the boys’ side, Keenan Mayo of Roseville won the Boys’ 18s singles title, entering the draw unseeded and winning the final match over Aleks Huryn 4-6, 7-6, 7-6.
Keenan Mayo won the Boys’ 18s singles title in the USTA National Selection Tournament.
Alexander Chang of Berkeley, seeded third, won the Boys’ 12s singles title. In the semifinal, Chang beat Max Fardanesh of Albany, another strong NorCal player who was seeded second.
Sima Pesic of Del Rey Oaks and Alex Lin of Gold River both reached the semifinals of the Boys’ 14s singles. Lin was seeded sixth and fell to No. 1 seed Siem Woldeab. Pesic fell to No. 2 seed JC Roddick.
For the girls, Vivian Ovrootsky of San Jose was the runner-up in the Girls’ 12s singles draw. Ovrootsky, the third-seeded player in the draw, fell in the final match to top-seeded Winta Woldeab.
Niluka Madurawe of Sunnyvale was the third seed and made it to the semifinal of the Girls’ 16s tournament. She fell to No. 2-seeded and eventual runner-up Sedona Gallagher.