The Palisades Tennis Center was once again strongly represented at last weekend’s Orange County Junior Open. Over 30 of its players were among the 1,000 competing in five age groups in both genders.
One local phenom is 14-year-old Roscoe Bellamy, who played “up” in the boys 16 Nationals in Stockton two weeks ago and won the tournament. In Orange County he again played up in the 16s and extended his winning streak by defeating practice partner and fellow Palisadian Ben Goldberg, in the final to win his second straight title. It was the 12th straight win in the 16s age division for Bellamy, who represented the USA this summer at the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic.
Goldberg, meanwhile, had the best tournament of his career, upsetting three high seeds en route to the finals. He avenged a recent defeat to Adam Sraberg in the round of 16 to finish second out of 256 players.
Diego Huttepain reached the round of 16 and upset the No. 9 seed along the way. RJ Sands, Ryan Seggerman and Lucas Bellamy all made the round of 32 in the boys 16s while Sraberg made it to the final 16.
In the boys 12’s, Lincoln Bellamy kept his streak of great play going by reaching the finals and beating four straight seeds along the way. He ended up second out of 128 players.
In the girls 14s, Chloe Bendetti reached the final 16 before a close loss to the runner-up. In the girls 16s, Sophia Booth also made the final 16.
Katie LaFrance is playing the women’s ITF in La Paz, Bolivia and has made the quarterfinals in singles and the semifinals in doubles.
— Steve Galluzzo
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