RJ Sands has been busy this spring helping the Palisades High boys tennis team to another Western League title but on Sunday the 16-year-old sophomore reveled in a victory all his own.
Sands didn’t drop a set in five matches on his way to winning the Boys’ 16s singles championship at the 99th annual Dudley Cup Junior Open in Santa Monica. He first defeated Hunter deRubertis of Sherman Oaks, 6-0, 6-0, then ousted Timothy Motte of Los Angeles, 6-2, 6-2) in the round of 16.
In the quarterfinals, Sands cruised past Daniel Cheng of Los Angeles, 6-1, 6-2, and in the semifinals he swept sixth-seeded Cruz Thayne of Newbury Park, 6-1, 6-3. The final pitted the top-seeded Sands against fifth-seeded Michael Chen, who trains at the Weil Tennis Academy in Ojai, and Sands won, 7-5, 7-6.
— Steve Galluzzo
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