Thirteen-year old Alexa Noel pulled off a series of convincing victories on her way to the title at the International Grass Court Championships, an ITF 18U Grade 4 tournament, hosted by the Merion Cricket Club in Haverford, PA.
Despite being unseeded, the JTCC High Performance player breezed through the draw by winning all five of her matches in straight sets. This included a dominant win over third seed Alana Smith, ranked #306 on the ITF circuit, in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-3. She continued by again only conceding four games as she brushed aside Gabriella Price in the finals, 6-2, 6-2
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Noel is now in an excellent position as she looks ahead to the upcoming National Girls’ 16U Clay Courts Championships in Virginia Beach (July 17-24) followed by her trip to Prostejov, Czech Republic to represent Team USA in the ITF 14U World Junior Tennis Tournament (August 1-6).
JTCC players Mackenzie Clark, 15, and Hailey Baptiste, 14, both reached the quarterfinals of the singles. Clark scored a huge upset in the opening round by defeating #1 seed Jessica Livianu, 7-6 (3), 6-1, and Baptiste battled past fifth seed Taylor Bridges in the round of 16, 6-3, 6-4.
Together Noel and Baptiste progressed through to the doubles semifinals and were only denied a place in the finals by the second seeds, Taylor Bridges and Mimi Levine, who won in a third set super-breaker, 5-7, 7-5, (10-5).
On the boys’ side, a trio of JTCC players included Andrew Fenty, Tristan McCormick and Brandon Perez. Sixteen-year old Fenty, currently ITF # 213 and #14 in the USTA 16U rankings, reached the quarterfinals before succumbing in a titanic tussle to Zane Khan, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. McCormick and partner Mac Kiger also reached the doubles semifinals before losing to the eventual champions, Richard Ciamarra and Maxwell Freeman, 7-6 (5), 2-6, (10-7).
“All of the players represented JTCC superbly both on and off the court,” said Coach Megan Moulton-Levy. “Alexa was the embodiment of a champion throughout the event with a strong court presence and playing very smart tennis.”
