Sacramento, Calif., native Rudy Quan collected two more USTA Gold Balls on Sunday to wrap up the 2018 USTA Boys’ 12s National Clay Court Championships, part of the USTA adidas Junior Championship Series. He kicked off the day by besting sixth-seeded and fellow Californian Lucas Coriaty (Long Beach) 6-1, 6-1 for the singles title; Quan combined with Maxwell Exsted (Savage, Minn.) to take down No. 8 seeds Andrew Salu (Sarasota, Fla.) and Adam Sun (Glendale, Ariz.) 6-2, 7-5 in the doubles final.

Top seed Quan polished off an outstanding week of singles action with a tidy 53-minute victory versus Coriaty. The two had met once earlier in the year at a USTA National Level 2 event in February, which also ended in Quan’s favor by the exact same score.

The match got off to a bit of a nervy start on both sides of the net, with Quan and Coriaty dropping serve on their openings service games. Quan broke at love to move ahead 2-1, and from there, Quan’s steady ground game took full control of the match. Stepping in to put away short balls and soft second serves along with dictating from the baseline, Quan dropped just two more points the remainder of the set en route to winning it 6-1.

Racing out to a 2-0 lead in the second frame, Quan was rapidly closing in on the finish line. Coriaty made one last stand, producing a break at love to pull within 2-1. However, he could not manage to hold in the following game, as his game continued to misfire while Quan stayed solid; Coriaty did not hold serve once on the day. Quan grabbed the last four games of the contest for a 6-1, 6-1 triumph.  

Quan has now won the USTA National Winter Championships, the Easter Bowl and the USTA Boys’ 12s National Clay Court Championships without the loss of a single set.

A recording of the singles final broadcast can be watched here.

No. 1 Rudy Quan’s Path to the USTA Gold Ball

First Round – def. Cal Rigs 6-1, 6-0

Second Round – def. Alexander Kotarski 6-1, 6-0

Third Round – def. Edwards Wang 6-1, 6-1

Fourth Round – def. Mikel Anderson 6-2, 6-1

Quarterfinals – def. Maximus Dussault 6-3, 6-2

Semifinals – def. No. 4 Alexander Razeghi 7-5, 6-2

Finals – def. No. 6 Lucas Coriaty 6-1, 6-1

The other singles match on Sunday featured No. 4 seed Alexander Razeghi (Humble, Texas) and Zhengqing Ji (La Jolla, Calif.) clashing for a Bronze Ball. In an impressive display of tennis from the Lone Star State representative, Razeghi dominated from start to finish, claiming the victory 6-1, 6-0. It was the second Bronze Ball on the weekend for Razeghi, who teamed up with Cooper Woestendick (Olathe, Kan.) to defeat No. 2 seeds Dylan Charlap (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) and Mitchell Lee (Oakland, Calif.) 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) Saturday evening in the doubles third-place match.

Quan picked up right where he left off at the start of the doubles final, displaying his pinpoint accuracy from the back of the court while Exsted was nearly flawless at the next with his volleys. The 11th-seeded duo earned two breaks over the course of the first set, once on Salu’s serve for a 2-0 lead and then on Sun’s serve at love to close out the set 6-2.

The No. 8 seeds put up some serious resistance in the second, breaking right away and pushing their advantage to 3-1. Quan and Exsted leveled the score at 3-3, but fell behind immediately by giving the break back in the next game. With a 5-3 cushion and looking to force a decisive third, Salu and Sun saw their fortunes take a turn, thanks in large part to an increased level of aggression from their opponents. The California/Minnesota pairing strung together a comeback in a matter of minutes, flipping a 5-3 deficit into a 7-5 triumph. Over the course of the last four games, Quan and Exsted let a mere six points slip away to close out the matchup emphatically.

It was far from an easy road for Quan and Exsted, which should have been expected given the event was their first as doubles partners. They won a total of three sets in a tiebreak, all by just two points, along with staging a huge rally in the semifinals after trailing 6-1, 4-1.

Among the previous singles champions are current pros Donald Young (2001), Jack Sock (2005), and Tommy Paul (2009). Former doubles champions include collegiate head coaches at BYU (Brad Pearce – 1978), Ohio State (Ty Tucker – 1982), and UCF (Bryan Koniecko – 1999) along with MaliVai Washington (1981), Denis Kudla (2004), Jack Sock (2004 and 2005), and Tommy Paul (2009).

For complete results from the 2018 USTA Boys’ 12s National Clay Court Championships, click here.