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CARSON, Calif. - Top seeds Hurricane Tyra Black and Liam Draxl were pushed to their limits last Sunday, but both held off the challenges of young Californian wild cards to claim the singles crowns at the ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships at the Dignity Health Sports Park.

Boys Singles Champion Liam Draxl
© Zoo Tennis

Black, the defending champion, won the final four games of the match to defeat 15-year-old Connie Ma 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, while Draxl outlasted 16-year-old Zachary Svajda in a 7-6(6), 3-6, 7-5 thriller.

Svajda, playing in only his second ITF Grade 1 event and third overall, demonstrated he would be a threat for the title when he defeated No. 4 seed and Easter Bowl finalist Martin Damm 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 in the opening round. Svajda only enhanced that view in subsequent matches, losing just three games in his three other victories, including a clinical 6-1, 6-1 dismantling of Stefan Dostanic in the semifinals.

Draxl, a 17-year-old Canadian, didn’t drop a set en route to the final, although his 7-6(1), 6-1 quarterfinal win over No. 5 seed Toby Kodat and 7-5, 6-3 semifinal win over No. 12 seed Andrew Dale provided some precarious moments for the ITF Top 20 junior.

The final, played in warm and sunny conditions, was riveting from the opening points, with neither player displaying any sign of nerves.

Draxl went up 4-1 in the first set, but Svajda broke back and had the easier service games as the set moved to a tiebreaker. Svajda earned a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but he succumbed to what both he and Draxl considered poor shot selection, and Draxl passed him to pull even, then claimed the next two points for the set.

"On that short forehand I went crosscourt, and he was already cross court, so he didn't have to move," said Svajda, a resident of San Diego. "I should have gone down the line probably, that was a mistake. I'll definitely remember that."