It was a day to remember for fourth-seeded Nicole Mossmer. The 16-year-old form La Jolla defeated 17th seeded Julia Haynes of the San Diego community of Rancho Bernardo 7-5, 6-0 to capture the Girls’ 16s singles title at the USTA National Championships.
Mossmer earned a USTA gold ball and a wild card into the main draw of the junior girls’ event of the upcoming US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
The title match opened on Stadium Court with Mossmer and Haynes exchanging long rallies as they attempted to set up points for a winning shot. After Haynes held serve for a 5-4 lead, Mossmer began her charge to the title, sweeping the next nine games in a row.
Mossmer held serve in the tenth game to even the set at 5-5, and then broke Haynes for a 6-5 advantage. She then went on to easily hold serve at love to win the first set.
In the second set, Mossmer broke Haynes in the opening game, which lasted 20 points and went to deuce six times. With the break, Mossmer gained the momentum and controlled the tempo of the set. She proceeded to run out the set at love in 41 minutes to win the title.
“It felt so good. I’ve been looking forward to this tournament all year. It feels amazing to win a USTA gold ball and a US Open junior wild card in the same day. It couldn’t get any better,” Mossmer said. “I’m so excited because I get to go to New York. I’ve never played at the US Open. It’s going to be my first time. I’m going to try and play the best tennis I can.”
Top-seeded Kayla Day of Santa Barbara played near flawless tennis in her Girls’ 18s semifinal match as she easily eliminated 17th-seeded Carson Branstine of Orange, Calif., 6-0, 6-1. In the other Girls’ 18s semifinal, seventh-seeded Nicole Frenkel of Winchester, Mass., got past fifth-seed Amanda Anisimova of Aventura, Fla., 6-3, 6-4.
Complete scores and results for each division of the USTA Girls’ 16s & 18s Nationals Championships can be viewed at: http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=171037 The Girls’ 18s singles final will take place at 10 a.m. (PDT) on Sunday. Admission and on-site parking at the Barnes Tennis Center is free Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the US Open wild cards that are traditionally awarded to the 16s and 18s singles champions and 18s doubles champions, additional wild cards for the US Open Junior Championships and wild cards to various USTA Women’s Pro Circuit tournaments will also be awarded this year. For the complete list of wild cards to be awarded go to: http://www.ustagirlsnationals.com/about.html.
