Palisades Tennis Center players Blake Anthony, Josh Rosen and Krystal Hansard all took home first-place trophies at last week’s Palisades Junior Tennis Open–a tournament chock full of local talent. Anthony won the Boys 12s division Friday afternoon in a thrilling three-set final over fellow PTC player Jamison West to capture his first individual title of the summer. The 11-year-old Palisadian reached the singles final of the Beverly Hills Junior Open and the doubles final of the Oxnard Junior Open and also played No. 2 singles for his winning Brady Camp elite team in Santa Barbara. On the way to winning his hometown tournament, Anthony rallied to upset top-seeded Corey Karen, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. In the final, Anthony and West traded groundstrokes from the baseline in the first two sets, which they split by 6-1 scores, before Anthony broke in the third to win, 6-3. Anthony was named the Area Sportsmanship Award winner for the 2005 junior, an honor given by the SCTA Junior Tennis Council to players exhibiting exemplary conduct both on and off the court. Anthony will be a sixth-grader at Corpus Christi this fall. Also winning matches in the Boys 12s draw were PTC players Robbie Bellamy, Derek Levchenko, Franco Rubio, Mark Cohrs, Alex Ghiannini and 9-year-old Eduardo Nava. Krystal Hansard entered both the Girls 14s and 16s divisions and reached the finals in both. She lost to Nicole Hung, 6-2, 6-4, in the 14s final but won the 16s division by default when her opponent, Kirsten Scott, withdrew. However, Hansard had already defeated Scott, 6-4, 7-5, in the semifinals of the 14s division before falling to eventual champion Nicole Hung. In the 16s, Hansard won her quarterfinal match in straight sets, then beat Palisades High player Kathryn Cullen, 6-2, 6-1, in the semifinals. Also in the Girls 16s, PTC player Rose Schlaff advanced to the round of 16 while Meagan Wilson, daughter of PTC youth program director Scott Wilson, played in both the 12s and 14s divisions. Palisades High’s Audrey Ashraf reached the semifinals of the girls 18s division. In the Boys’ 10s, PTC player Josh Rosen defeated Jackson Leipzig, 6-0, 6-2, in Friday’s final to cap an impressive run that included a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Brett Weisburg in the quarterfinals and a 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 win over Harrison Scott in the semifinals. Other PTC players in the division included 7-year-olds Lucas Bellamy and Diego Nava, each of whom won his first round match . In the Boys 14s, third-seeded Alex Baettig, who trains at the Palisades Tennis Center, advanced to the finals before falling to top-seeded Arthur Karagezian. Local players Sevy Urtiz, Connor Treacy, Oliver Thornton and Matthew Lee all won 14s matches. In the Boys’ 18s, PTC product Anthony Rollins advanced to the round of 16 along with Palisades High players Mason Hays and Michael Light. In the Boys’ 16s, PTC’s Trinity Thornton won his first two matches at love before being eliminated in the quarterfinals. Over 165 players in 10 age divisions entered the USTA-sanctioned event, which began last Monday and was played at the PTC courts and at Santa Monica High.
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