News & Features

Share:

CARSON, Calif. - Two unseeded 15-year-old Californians earned titles in the 16s division last Saturday at the International Spring Championships, with Berkeley’s Alexander Chang beating William Cooksey 6-3, 6-4 and La Mesa’s Winta Woldeab defeating defending champion Anne Lutkemeyer by the same score.

Boys 16s Champion Alexander Chang
© Zoo Tennis

The tournament, held at the Dignity Health Sports Park, is a USTA Level 1, but unlike the Easter Bowl 16s, play is governed by International Tennis Federation Junior Circuit rules. All matches featured chair umpires calling the lines, service lets played, and, new this year, coaching allowed during changeovers. The seeding is based entirely on ITF junior rankings, so many of the top American juniors who have yet to begin competing in ITF events are not considered for seeding.

So perhaps unsurprisingly, by the quarterfinals, all seeds had been eliminated from the boys draw, and three of the four semifinalists were Americans, with Jiaxi Ma, representing China, also a U.S. resident.

Chang, who did not lose a set in his run to the title, defeated Ma 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals, while Cooksey took out Eli Gordon 6-2, 6-2.

Chang's victory over William Cooksey in the final reversed the result of their previous meeting a week earlier at the Easter Bowl, with Cooksey taking a consolation match there.

"He played way tougher than I did that day, the key points," Chang said. "At Easter Bowl, he had a lot of good first serves that he got a lot of points off of. But here it was windy, so it was tough to make first serves and we were both trying for consistency, not going for too many lines. I had my chances last time we played, so I felt if I could capitalize on the key moments, I could take it. I was hungry to win."