The Road to THE TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP 2024
June 2: UTR Spring Finals
The largest UTR tournament in Tennis Central's history had a great finish late into the evening as 75 players vied for the second major title of the season. 200 points were at stake for the winners of the top flights.
Great drama unfolded at Holton Arms with great weather.
The 16U top division started the fireworks in the morning with overall No. 1 player in the 14U Tour, Jon Ozenci, winning another major championship in an operatic finish. Dropping the first set 5-3 to Elijah Park, he shut him out in the second and continued that momentum in a stunning 10-7 tiebreak.
That pattern was familiar to Ozenci, who had to pull out more than one comeback. Ashvin Ellentuck almost ended his major bid in the semis, where another 10-7 classic finish displayed their top play.
The two hundred points are now his, and that shakes up the Tours ahead of the 14U where he had steady ascended to No. 1. Ozenci reclaimed the top spot at 16U by just 12 points over Atlee Hilliard, who still holds onto the 18U No. 1 ranking.
Elizabeth S raced to the 14U top flight victory as she defeated A Lin in a close semifinal before facing Abir Kedar, who had not yet been so challenged. The final and the major championship went to Elizabeth in a dominant performance.
Top seed Serena Provinse withdrew to open the pathway. It was a minor plot point over the weekend that reduced a few draws because of illnesses and injury.
Leo Martinez won the largest draw at eleven players for the 10U division. His semifinal was the toughest test, when he overcame Do 5-3 in the first set, while the final was more straightforward against Polepally. Martinez jumps to No. 5 on the leaderboard, while Ethan Wang improved twelve spots.
Diya Nain needed only one win to claim the top fight of the 12U tournament, given that a number of her adversaries had to withdraw with injuries. She still had to vanquish an in form Vincent Finisdore, the Australian who had had to contend with the Tour's No. 1, Shiloh Auzoux, in the quarters. Finisdore finally breaks into the Top 10 as Nain debuts at No. 15.
The day's smallest tournament featured the 18U players, but each match was singularly tight. Arthur Rosenstein won two tiebreak third sets, one against Vir Mattu and the final against Solomon Ravitz, both former winners at the Tour level, to claim the championship.
Rosenstein and Spencer Weiss emerged into the Top 10---the former landing at No. 8 on the 16U Tour, the latter getting back to No. 7 on the same circuit.
In the lower flights we found no less conviction. Sidney Immergut pushed so hard in his final of the 12U third flight that he'll be taking a rest this weekend. The finalists traded sets at 4-2 before Immergut won the tiebreak 10-5 over Shannon Bu.
Incredibly both had played even closer tiebreaks in their penultimate rounds. Bu went 4-5, 5-3, 10-7 in the semifinals against Zander Abramson, while George Vallhonrat almost ousted the champion before he even got to the final, a 12-10 tiebreak all that stood between the two.
The next closest final went to Lara Isler, who won the 14U second division over Grayson Leeper by surging to an opening set win and then taking charge of the second set tiebreak 7-1. Isler broke into the Top 10 and slotted in at No. 3 after the shining performance.
The Tour makes two stops this weekend coming up, with one USTA event on Saturday for the Orange and green ball players. Then fifty players will tee it up in another UTR event on Sunday, the String48 Open.
2024 Points Change
A change to the points applied to higher-level tournaments from lower levels should reflect ages and skills better from now on. It used to be that all points were halved when applied to a higher age group's rankings. Now, the points are halved each step up the ladder, not just once.
So a player can no longer earn 80 points at 10U and count them as 40 at 16U. They would be halved at 12U (40 points), again at 14U (20 points), then again at 16U (10 points). It provides the incentive without disrupting the older players' earnings too much.
However, a younger player earning points in an older tournament, much as Arnav Nadikatla did in this Tour Championship edition, is still a sure way to rise faster in those rankings.
Remember the newly added feature to the rankings: the Plus / Minus, which will tell you how far up or down the player has moved within the last week.
The full tables now look like this.
Each weekend this spring and summer, Tennis Central is bringing you USTA and UTR tournaments at Holton-Arms School. Earn points for advancing through each round, just like on the pro tours, and qualify for the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP at season's end.
Bigger events offer more points, with the TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP offering the most, as well as prizes.
Check here for updates each week to the Tennis Central Tour Rankings, a 52-week points system based on the pro tours, as well as recaps of all the action and photos. We'll post the 2024 schedule soon!
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