Thea Frodin, Shristi Selvan Claim USTA Billie Jean King
Girls’ 16s & 18s National Championships

Moments after Thea Frodin captured the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 18s National Championships in singles, beating Janae Preston, 6-1, 6-0, on Sunday at the Barnes Tennis Center, she was asked the question every winner gets each year: 

“Now that you’re headed to New York with a main draw US Open singles wild card, would you rather face a high seed on Arthur Ashe Stadium? Or a qualifier on a back court in the first round?”

Frodin, from Woodland Hills in Southern California, took a few seconds to think about it, before answering: “I’m going with seeded player on Arthur Ashe. I want it all. Bring it on!”

The No. 3 seeded Frodin’s play impressed more than 30 former WTA legends of the game, who were introduced on court before the match. Tennis icons such as 39-time majors winner King, 12-time Grand Slam champion Rosie Casals, and San Diego native Karen Hantze Susman, who won the 18s girls’ singles nationals title three straight times in 1958, 1959 and 1960 before going on to win Wimbledon singles in 1962 and three more majors with Billie Jean Moffitt, were part of the cavalcade of stars.

The 17-year-old Frodin’s USTA singles gold ball from Girls’ 18s Nationals will proudly be displayed next to the doubles she won last year. Frodin joins fellow Southern Californians Iva Jovic, Lindsay Davenport and Tracy Austin, who all won both the singles and doubles at Girls’ 18s Nationals

“Honestly, it’s all a blur,” said Frodin, who beat top-seeded Julieta Pareja in the semifinals on Saturday in two tiebreaks. “I just really wanted it and was super excited to play. Yesterday, after I beat the No. 1 seed, it really boosted my confidence.”

Preston, the No. 4 seed from Henderson, Nevada, knew it was going to be a long day from the outset. “I tried to fight through it mentally,” said Preston, 16, who won a three-hour marathon three-setter on Saturday and had another three-set win on Friday. “It was a long week, and she played really well.”

In the Girls’ 18s doubles final, Bella Payne of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and Sara Shumate of Charlotte, North Carolina, beat Welles Newman from Boca Raton, Florida, and Jordyn Hazelitt from Henderson, Nevada, 6-2, 6-1. Payne (headed to the University of Georgia) and Shumate (Oklahoma) are next off to the US Open, just like Frodin, winning main draw wild cards into the women’s doubles draw. 

Julieta Pareja of Carlsbad won the third-fourth match against Chukwumelije Clarke from Humble, Texas, 6-1, 6-3. 

“It was a great tournament all week, and we extend our appreciation to Ryan Redondo, the Barnes Tennis and the Southern California Tennis Association,” said tournament director Lornie Kuhle. “Today was highlighted by our ‘Summer of Champions’ and the reunion of past WTA greats. We wish our winner Thea Frodin the best of luck, and she was also the 18s Sportsmanship award winner. We have a pretty good track record at producing champions and we think that is going to continue with Thea.”

Selvan Captures Girls’ 16s Singles Title

Top-seeded Shristi Selvan is headed to New York City, earning direct entry into the upcoming US Open Junior Championships following her dramatic three-set win over her good friend and training partner No. 14 Aarini Bhattacharya on Saturday, capturing the 16-and-under singles title at the 107^th annual USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s and 18s National Championships taking place at the Barnes Tennis Center. 

After dropping the first set, 6-4, Selvan rebounded to win the second set, 6-4, and took a 3-1 lead in the third set when her hand and wrist started cramping to the extent she described it as “glued shut. I couldn’t open it.”

The cramps then moved to her quads and her calves and Selvan, returning serve and down 30-15 in the fifth game, asked for a medical timeout. Unable to move to her chair, Selvan dramatically stood a few feet behind the service line midcourt unable to move. She was given a warning for a time violation, and then assessed a point penalty, making the score 40-15.

Not being allowed a second medical timeout for the same injury, Selvan was then assessed yet another code violation, giving Bhattacharya the game 3-2. Selvan, writhing in pain, was literally carried off the court by the physio with the assistance of the tournament referee. With help from the physio on the changeover, Selvan’s cramps dissipated and she was heroically able to continue playing.

Selvan won the next game to lead 4-2 and held off a late charge by Bhattacharya to win the final set, 6-4, in a match that lasted 2 hours, 59 minutes.

Just three weeks ago at the Clay Court Nationals, Selvan experienced full-body cramps after winning the first set 6-0, and continued to play, ultimately losing in three sets. “I was determined to win this match,” Selvan said. “It’s always been my dream to get into the US Open Juniors, and to have Billie Jean King give me the award.”

Woodland Hills’ Thea Frodin is hoping to receive a congratulatory handshake from BJK, and the USTA gold ball – as well as accept her US Open main draw women’s wild card on Sunday. The No. 3 seed Frodin beat friend and one-time Wimbledon junior doubles finalist partner Julieta Pareja from Carlsbad, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4), in the 18s semifinals. 

Frodin’s Sunday finals opponent (match to start not before 1 p.m.) will be Janae Preston of Henderson, Nev. Preston battled Chukwumelije Clarke from Humble, Texas, for more than three hours and came out on top, 6-4, 5-7, 6-2. In July, Preston made the Wimbledon girls’ semifinals and won several more important junior events, seeing her ITF junior world ranking soar to No. 6. Preston turned 16 on Thursday, while Clarke celebrated her 17^th birthday on Friday.

In the girls’ 18s doubles final, it will be Bella Payne (Bradenton, Fla.) and Sara Shumate (Charlotte, N.C.) facing off against Welles Newman (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Jordyn Hazelitt (Henderson, Nev.) in the 10:30 a.m. doubles final. Payne and Shumate beat Natalie Kha (Chino Hills) and Yilin Chen (San Diego), 6-3, 6-3, in one semifinal, and Newman and Hazelitt got past Brooke Kwon (Diamond Bar) and Alyson Shannon (Plano, Texas), 6-1, 6-2.

In the girls’ 16s doubles final, the No. 9-seeded duo of Abigail Haile (Los Angeles) and Olivia de Los Reyes (Orlando) beat the No. 9-seeded SoCal tandem of Madeline Cleary (Moorpark) and Isabelle Nguyen (San Gabriel), 6-3, 6-1 to win the USTA gold ball. Nikol Davletshina (Lake Worth, Fla.) won the 16s bronze ball in singles, and Avita Beitler (Scandia, Minn.) was fourth.