USTA Missouri Plays Host to Prestigious Level 4 Junior Tournament
USTA Missouri President Mallory Weber said a few years have passed since her district has held a super high-caliber Sectional-level junior event. That drought ended when Weber and USTA Missouri played host to a Level 4 Closed boys’ 12 & Under and boys’ 14 & Under junior tournament.
The event — which was awarded by the USTA Missouri Valley — took place indoors at Cooper Tennis Complex in Springfield on January 15-17. Competitors had the opportunity to participate in singles and doubles action. Weber, community recreation coordinator at Cooper, was the tournament’s director.
“A few summers ago we did get to host the Summer Sweet 16 before everything changed into the leveled events,” Weber said. “That’s a high-caliber tournament, and we were really happy to have that. But it had been since that time that we have had anything even remotely similar.”
Weber noted USTA Missouri has recently run a fair amount of Level 6 and Level 7 junior tourneys. And Courtney Nesbitt, USTA Missouri junior competition coordinator, has directed successful Level 5 tournaments in Camdenton.
“But to get that L4 was something we were really shooting for,” Weber said. “It was a goal we had. We feel like Cooper has the facility that can handle it. We were just really happy the Valley awarded it to us and that it ran successfully.”
A trio of USTA Missouri junior players participated in the Level 4 tournament in their own backyard. Han Seo of Springfield competed in singles in the 12 & Under flight.
At the 14 & Under level, Austin Potter of Springfield was the No. 4-seeded singles player and wound up finishing in fourth place. Caleb Kim of Springfield was seeded seventh and snagged a fifth-place finish. Potter and Kim faced off in the quarterfinals with Potter earning a 7-6 (11-9), 6-1 victory.
No. 3 seed Krishna Bhadriraju from Tulsa claimed the 14 & Under singles title over top-seeded T.J. Shanahan of Oklahoma City with a 6-3, 7-5 result in the finals. In doubles, Bhadriraju paired with Stilwell’s Anish Poojari to win that championship, too.
In 12 & Under singles action, No. 1-seed Aristen Malone of St. Peters defeated No. 2-seed Connor Feehan of Bettendorf 6-3, 6-4 to earn the championship. Malone and Feehan teamed up to take the doubles title 8-5 over Teddy Long (Mission Hills) and Avi Patel (St. Louis).
“It went really smoothly,” Weber said. “We had a lot of kids participate. It was kind of a crazy time with Covid and some withdrawals. So the kids who did get to compete, we were just really happy they were able to come and have a successful weekend.”
At the conclusion of their matches, participants scanned a QR code then evaluated themselves as well as their opponent. That data was recorded and filtered back to the Missouri Valley to continue to aid in evaluating and recognizing good sportsmanship. To view more about the Level 4 tournament and see full results, click here.
To view upcoming USTA Missouri Valley junior tournaments and search for local junior tourneys, click here.
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