USTA Florida Level 3 Doubles Spring Challenge
Champions Crowned
May 29, 2017

Eight duos walked away champions on Monday as the USTA Florida L3 Doubles Spring Challenge came to a close. The three-day event featured high-level doubles action involving junior players from across the USTA Florida Section.
In total, five draws saw the top seeds claim the trophy - the Boys' 14 and 18s plus the Girls' 12s, 14s and 18s. The two seeds emerged victorious in the Boys' 12s and Girls' 16s to go along with the three seeds pulling out the victory in the Boys' 16s.
After coming back from a set down in their Boys' 12s semifinal match on Sunday, No. 2 seeds Robert Acosta and Charlie Cowan posted a 6-3, 7-5 result in the finals over the top-seeded pair of Leanid Boika and Calvin Wellman. Boika and Wellman had not lost more than two games in a set heading into Monday. The Boys' 14s champions, top seeds Jack Anthrop and Ben Shelton, also claimed the title after being on the brink of elimination in the early rounds. They teamed up for a soild outing in the final, defeating No. 2 seeds Bruno Kuzuhara and Timmy Phung 6-4, 6-3.
The lowest seeded team to win a title on Monday, third-seeded Andres Golindano and Luis Iriarte Bastidas held off Nicolas Cabrera and Esteban Sierra 6-3, 7-6(4) in the Boys' 16s final. Golindano and Iriarte Bastidas did not surrender a set the entire tournament. In the only championship match to go the distance, top seeds Carlos Grande and Antonio Mora won the opener 6-3 against No. 2 seeds Daniel Gale and John Michael Holtmann, lost the second set 6-1, and then bounced back to take the super tiebreak 10 points to five.
Girls' 12s No. 1 seeds Natalie Block and Gabriella Smashey recorded their fifth 6-0 set on Monday en route to claiming the title with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over No. 2 seeds Ada Jane de Alcantara and Alexis Nyborg. The top-seeded duo in the Girls' 14s, DJ Bennett and Sophia Wang were nearly as dominant in their march toward the championship, surrendering a total of 12 games in their four matches.
The final of the day on the girls' side took place in the 16s draw, where No . 1 seeds Kensie Cricchio and Emma Shelton were up against the second-seeded pair of Karly Friedland and Cooper Jackson. Cricchio and Shelton took the first set in a tight 6-4 decision only to see Friedland and Jackson respond to win the second 6-3. In the decisive super tiebreak, it was Friendland and Jackson who were able to come out on top by a slim 10 points to seven. In much less dramatic fashion, top seeds Anna Bright and Sophia Edwards capped off their tremendous run in the Girls' 18s with a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of No. 3 seeds Samantha Alicea and Patricia Lopez.
For complete results from all divisions, click here.