Tournament Coverage
Basavareddy Cruises to Boys 14s Clays Singles Title
by Harvey Fialkov, 24 July 2019
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Playing seven or eight matches over eight days was certainly challenging to the finalists in the USTA Boys 14s National Clay Court Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Toss in 90-degree, sweltering conditions and it’s no wonder that conditioning as well as the degree of difficulty of the combatant’s earlier rounds would play a huge role in the outcome.
Dylan Tsoi (Left) and Nishesh Basavareddy
Dylan Tsoi, the sixth seed from El Dorado Hills, California, needed three hours to edge the fourth-seeded Nicholas Godsick of Miami (and Chagrin Falls, Ohio), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a grueling semifinal on Saturday.
In his quarterfinal, Tsoi, a muscular 5-foot-8 teen, outlasted second-seeded Cooper Williams of Greenwich, Connecticut, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
On Sunday, Tsoi put up a brave battle but clearly his tank was closer to E then F, as unseeded Nishesh Basavareddy of Carmel, Indiana, utilized a mature, versatile attack to notch a 6-1, 6-0 victory in a final that lacked drama at the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center.
Of Basavareddy’s eight victories, he was only pushed to three sets in his quarterfinal 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 upset of top-seeded Yannik Rahman of Miami, so he had energy to spare.
“As I got closer to the finals, the matches got tougher, so it was incredible of me to pull those matches out,” Tsoi said. “Naturally, it got tougher to stay focused after [two long matches] during the final while Nishesh had a lot quicker matches compared to me. It was tough to stay in the long rallies … but this is my first silver ball and a deep run in a [Level 1] so it was an awesome experience and it takes some time to get used to it.’’
