SoCal Juniors Make Their Mark at L1
National Clay Court Championships

USTA Southern California’s top junior talent brought the heat at this year’s National Clay Court Championships, held annually during the first two weeks of July. As one of the pinnacle tournaments of American junior tennis, this Level 1 (L1) event features a high level of USTA junior competition, with elite players competing across the country.  

Tournament Structure and Venues

Unlike most tournaments where everyone plays at one site, juniors from different age divisions (12s, 14s, 16s, and 18s) competed across various premier clay court tennis centers around the U.S. 

The venues included:

– Boys’ 12s: USTA National Campus (Orlando, FL)
– Girls’ 12s: Spencer Love Tennis Center (Greensboro, NC)
– Boys’ 14s: Westgate Tennis Center (Dothan, AL)
– Girls’ 14s: Frank Veltri Tennis Center (Plantation, FL)
– Boys’ 16s & 18s: Delray Beach Tennis Center (Delray Beach, FL)
– Girls’ 16s: Athletic Club Alabama (Huntsville, AL)
– Girls’ 18s: LTP – Mount Pleasant (Mount Pleasant, SC)

Southern California’s Notable Highlights

In the boys’ 12s division, Newbury Park’s Reed Kuai and Palm Desert’s Benjamin Foreman earned third place in doubles, winning four matches along the way before losing a very tight third set tiebreaker in the semifinals.

The girls’ 12s boasted impressive results from several Southern California juniors. The singles final featured two local standouts, Lindy Zhou and Lerong Yao. Zhou, who was the number one seed in the 128-player bracket, beat ninth-seeded Yao 6-0, 6-3.

Yao flipped the script with a championship trophy in Greensboro, winning the girls’ doubles bracket with Intermountain’s Ayenxavia Calugay. The duo won a very close battle against Zhou and Eastern’s Valentina Singh Carvajal, 6-7(3), 6-1, 7-6(8). 

Irvine’s Sofia Pizarro and San Diego’s Suzanne Kang also finished with a notable run in doubles, winning four matches before losing in the semifinals to eventual winners Yao and Calugay.

In Dothan, Alabama, Tustin’s own Nathan Lee made SoCal proud, winning a whopping seven matches to capture the boys’ 14s singles title. In the final, he overcame Eastern’s Sebastian Cheaney in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. 

Lee shined in doubles as well, finishing just short of the championship trophy after winning five matches to reach the final with Southern’s Blount Williams.

In the boys’ 18s division, the SoCal pair of Paxton Au (Manhattan Beach) and Siddharth Bharadwaj (Irvine) finished fourth in the doubles draw. The duo won five matches before falling in the semifinals to the eventual champions from Texas, Alexander Wriedt and William McEwan.

In the girls’ 18s singles draw, seventeenth-seeded Julia Seversen of Trabuco Canyon represented SoCal with an excellent run to the finals, nearly capturing the title after an excruciatingly close match. Seversen fell just short, losing 4-6, 7-6(8), 4-6 to Middle States’ Addison Lindsay.

Results (Fourth Place and Above)

> BOYS 12s

– Reed Kuai/Benjamin Foreman: Boys’ 12 Doubles 3rd Place: L1 Orlando, FL

> GIRLS 12s

– Lindy Zhou: Girls’ 12 Singles Champion: L1 Greensboro, NC
– Lerong Yao: Girls’ 12 Singles Finalist: L1 Greensboro, NC 
– Lerong Yao/Ayenxavia Calugay (Intermountain): Girls’ 12 Doubles Champion: L1 Greensboro, NC
– Lindy Zhou/Valentina Singh Carvajal (Eastern): Girls’ 12 Doubles Finalist: L1 Greensboro, NC
– Sofia Pizarro/Suzanne Kang: Girls’ 12 Doubles 4th Place: L1 Greensboro, NC

> BOYS 14s

– Nathan Lee: Boys’ 14 Singles Champion: L1 Dothan, AL
– Nathan Lee/Blount Williams (Southern): Boys’ 14 Doubles Finalist: L1 Dothan, AL

> BOYS 18s

– Paxton Au/Siddharth Bharadwaj: Boys’ 18 Doubles 4th Place: L1 Delray Beach, FL

> GIRLS 18s

– Julia Seversen: Girls’ 18 Singles Finalist: L1 Mount Pleasant, SC