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Third seed Samir Banerjee came into the Boys 14s Winter National Championships with confidence, mental discipline and maturity carried over from his stellar play at the National Indoor Championships and Orange Bowl.

Boys 14s Singles Champion Samir Banerjee

The blue chip recruit from Basking Ridge, New Jersey, capped the holidays in Tucson, Arizona with hard earned gold balls for both singles and doubles titles. He adds those to another doubles gold and a pair of doubles bronzes.

“I was playing pretty well this tournament,” the eighth grader said. “In the first couple of rounds, I had some pretty easy wins, but as the week progressed, it got tougher and I tried to raise my game.”

He seemed to be cruising until the quarterfinals, where he beat No. 14 Brian Chong (Cupertino, California) 6-3, 7-5.

“I played the two big tournaments before this one, and I guess those took a toll on me,” Banerjee said. “I had to dig deep in that quarterfinals match. After the first set my shoulder started hurting a bit, and I couldn’t serve as big. I just had to get the ball in, and try to grind it out.”