Tournament Summary
Giron and Crawford Claim First ITF Grade 1 Titles at International Spring Championships
Chiang and Rubin Win in 16s Division
by
Colette Lewis, 16 April 2011
| Share: |  |
|  | |
|
|
There wasn't much international about the late stages of the ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships last week, with Americans claiming all four singles and doubles titles at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.
Unseeded
Marcos Giron captured the boys title with a 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-4 win over top seed
Bjorn Fratangelo, while
Samantha Crawford, an unseeded wild card, finished her breakout week with a 6-1, 6-1 finals victory over No. 3 seed
Madison Keys.
Giron, who has committed to UCLA, started his run with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over No. 5 seed Dennis Novikov and followed up that tough first round encounter with straight-set wins over the No. 11, No. 2 and No. 13 seeds.
The winner of the ITF Grade 4 in Claremont, Calif. the previous week, the 17-year-old from Thousand Oaks, Calif. was full of confidence when he faced Fratangelo in their first meeting since a quarterfinal contest in the Kalamazoo 16s in 2009.
That decision went to Fratangelo by a 6-4, 6-4 score, but prior to the final, both players were predicting an even more competitive rematch, given their recent form and similar playing styles.
Played under ideal conditions, Sunday's final proved them right, with both players displaying their powerful games at every opportunity, and winners exceeding unforced errors by a wide margin.
Fratangelo played his worst game of the match after breaking Giron for a 4-2 lead in the opening set, with two unforced errors and a double fault, but he had another chance to put the set on his side of the ledger with Giron serving at 4-5, 30-40. Giron brushed that aside with a good first serve and overhead winner, and after a Fratangelo forehand went astray, held with an ace.
