Palisadian Blake Anthony captured two titles at the 14th annual Tennis For All Junior Open in La Canada last weekend. The Southern California Regional Level 4 tournament featured top players from the L.A. area. In the boys’ 16s singles division, Anthony didn’t drop a set on his way to winning the 64-player draw. In the semifinals he beat fifth-seeded Alan Leahy, 6-2, 6-3, and in the final he beat third-seeded Joshua Kim, 6-1, 6-3. After winning the singles championship, Anthony played two doubles matches to win the 18s age division title. Anthony and his partner Jake Yasgoor, who are both 15 years old, won the 18s with a 6-1, 6-2 semifinal win over John Lee and Alex Wood, then upset top-seeded Gregory Lee and Adam Shapiro, 6-3, 6-3 in the final. The victory marked Anthony’s first 18s’ title and his fifth title this year. Next week, Anthony heads to Salt Lake City, Utah, along with fellow Palisades residents Alex Giannini, Robbie Bellamy and Spencer Pekar to represent Southern California at the USTA 16s Zonal Team Championships against teams from the Northern California, Hawaii, Southwest, Pacific Northwest and Inter Mountain sections. * * * * * * * Riviera Hosts ITA Summer Circuit The Riviera Tennis Club was the site for last weekend’s Intercollegiate Tennis Association Summer Circuit event, a tournament featuring some of the nation’s top men’s and women’s college and high school players. Walker Kehrer, who grew up in Pacific Palisades and now plays at Stanford, advanced to the semifinals of the men’s singles draw, losing a marathon match 7-6, 4-6, 11-9, to eventual champion Daniel Faierman of Del Mar. After a first-round bye, Kehrer beat Tyler Gottshall of Loyola Marymount, 6-4, 6-2, in the round of 32; beat Chris Palacio of Palomar, 6-1, 6-3, in the round of 16 and beat Michael Sperry of Eastern Illinois, 6-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals. Faierman beat Gary Parizher of Washington University, 6-2, 6-4, in Sunday’s final. Palisades High’s Alex Giannini won his first match before falling to Faierman, 7-5, 1-6, 10-3 in the round of 16. Kehrer and his longtime coach Ross Loel beat former Palisades High player Justin Atlan and his UC San Diego partner Hall Fess, 8-4, in the quarterfinals of the doubles. “It was a great tournament and we’re proud we got to host it,” said Pam Austin, Riviera’s Director of Tennis. ‘We love having the college kids.’ Alexandria Walters of Pepperdine defeated Alison Ramos of USC, 7-6, 6-7, 10-8 in the women’s singles final. Palisadian Caroline Richman, who plays for Amherst College, beat Julia Blakeley of Irvine, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round and lost to Kathryn Webb of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 6-2, 6-2, in the second round. Richman and partner Kellen Alberstone of Bowdoin College lost to Roxanne and Sierra Ellison of San Diego State in the quarterfinals of the doubles draw. Walters and partner Anamika Barghava beat the Ellison sisters , 8-5, in the women’s doubles final.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
