by Peter Dickinson
May 29th – 30th, the Racquet Club was proud to host the National Under 26, Singles and Doubles, Championships. With the Van Alen and Clothier Cups approaching fast, players from Philadelphia and Washington came eager to spar in tight head-to-head battles.
Henry Smith and James Greenley led the weekend off, with Smith taking a commanding 6-1 6-2 win to push on to the semifinal.
Newcomer Eli Segal made his first tournament appearance against Pete Dickinson in the next match that ended with Dickinson moving on to play Noah Motz in the semifinal. Motz had no issues adjusting to the slower Philadelphia court, hitting all his targets to win 6-1 6-4 and securing his spot in the singles final.
Saturday concluded with the first doubles match between Dickinson & Motz and Segal & Greenley, with Dickinson & Motz grabbing their spot in the finals against Bristowe &Smith Sunday.
Sunday, the court was busy early. One rematch of Saturday, a practice session, and the first round of the back draw between Greenley and Segal. James proved to be too steady for Segal and moved on.
The best match of the weekend was in the first semifinal between Henry Smith and Freddie Bristowe. Down one set and trailing 3-5 in the second, Smith stayed steady to steal the set off Bristowe 6-5. With Freddie firing away in the third and jumping out to a 5-1 lead, Smith started chipping away to climb back to take the third 6-5, moving on to the final against Motz.
With a quick turnaround, Motz and Smith took the court to fight for the singles final. The first stayed as close as it could until the last game, as Noah’s return of serve proved to be the deadly weapon he needed to take the set 6-5. Noah continued to send rockets off his return, jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the second, but Smith again started crawling back to 4-4. Although we all thought Smith would have a repeat of his previous match, Noah’s crafty kill shots ended too many points taking the next two games and the Singles final.
Motz and Smith finally had a break while Bristowe took out Dickinson and Greenley in the back draw.
The last match of the weekend featured Motz & Dickinson vs. Bristowe & Smith for the doubles final. While it stayed close during the first, Bristowe & Smith jumped ahead at 4-4 to take the set 6-4. Their momentum continued through the second to go up 4-0. Motz & Dickinson made a final push back to 4-5, but with Bristowe and Smith taking control of the service side, they could close out the match 6-4, 6-4.
Thank you to James Greenley for marking, the Racquet Club for hosting the event, the Smith family for hosting the players, the USCTA and USCTPF for their support, and the players who came and made this possible.
