The Friday Edition

FOUNTAIN VALLEY - The draws had been taken down. The leftover T-shirts were packaged in boxes. Most of the officials had called it a day.

But two trophies still remained on the table and one match still remained on the court.

The Boys' 18 singles final brought a fitting end to the 107th annual Southern California Jr. Sectional Championships on June 29th at Los Caballeros Racquet & Sports Club.

Third-seeded Daniel Kosakowski of Downey and No. 4 Zachary Leslie of San Diego engaged in a dramatic showdown that lasted nearly three hours and 30 minutes.

With both players fighting fatigue, Kosakowski edged Leslie 6-7, 7-6, 7-5.

"I almost started cramping in the third set, but I saw that he was cramping and I just didn't give up," Kosakowski said. "I just knew I had to fight hard the whole way."

SCTA's sectionals is the largest junior tournament in the United States with more than 1,800 entries, 1,500 total players and 2,000 matches played.

The Boys' 18 draw was shaken up immediately when top-seeded Lawrence Formentera of Colton was upset in the first round by Alexander Johnson of Rancho Santa Fe 6-3, 6-4.

But Formentera didn't leave empty-handed. He teamed with North Hollywood's Mousheg Hovhannisyan to win the Boys' 18 doubles title with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Axel Bouillin of San Diego and Gannon Nicoll of Chula Vista.

Kosakowski and Leslie had relatively easy marches through the draw until squaring off in the final.

One night prior, Kosakowski had received the Most Improved Player award at the SCTA's annual banquet.

Kosakowski didn't even qualify for the main draw at sectionals two years ago.

Yet there he was accepting his championship trophy and wearily conveying his post-match celebration plans.

"Just rest," he said. "Just rest."

The Girls' 18 singles crowned a new champion as well with top-seeded Pamela Montez beating Sarah Lee of Los Angeles 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

The UCLA-bound Montez hadn't played sectionals since she was 14. The La Quinta resident had been playing for Mexico, but switched back to the United States and decided to enter.

Her previous two meetings with Lee had stretched three sets.

"Sarah is a really tough opponent and her game bothers me," Montez said. "I am not sure why. I just can't figure it out really. I just kept tough and I think I served well and that helped me this time around."

The 15-year-old Lee, who won the 16s title last year, felt she progressively improved over the course of the event.

"I had a rough start, but I ended up playing pretty well throughout the second round and the final," Lee said. "There were a few things in the final I should have done that I didn't, but played really well and smart."

Kaitlyn Christian of Orange and Sabrina Santamaria of Los Angeles defended their Girls' 18 doubles title with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Lorraine Guillermo and Desirae Krawczyk.

Reo Asami of Irvine started the tournament as a 14-year-old and finished it as a 15-year-old.

Asami's birthday was June 27, and he provided himself with a belated gift by winning his third sectionals singles title.

Despite not being enamored with his performance, the third-seeded Asami defeated No. 5 Daniel Faierman 7-6, 3-6, 6-2 in the final of the Boys' 16 singles.

"The whole tournament I have not been playing well, but hopefully after this I can get confident," said Asami, who previously won the 12s and 14s singles title. "I got a little lucky to win this because I didn't feel the ball well, but in the third set I started playing more solid on my backhand a lot more."

From their prior meetings, Faierman knew Asami would be hard to beat.

"Reo is always a tough player because he is so strong mentally," Faierman said. "I had a couple of bad stretches where I forced things a little bit. On another day if a couple of points had gone my way, it could have been a different result."

So did Asami feel any older after the tournament?

"Not really," he said. "Just a couple of days."

Mayo Hibi of Irvine made a deal with her mother that if she won the tournament her mom would buy her a necklace from the on-site jewelry booth.

Hibi was clutching her new silver accessory soon after beating Oak Park's Shayne Austin 6-2, 6-3 in the Girls' 16 singles final.

"It feels great," Hibi said. "I was really nervous the whole week and could hardly sleep. But now I feel really relaxed."

Quick and painless had been Yuki Chiang's preferred method of operation at sectionals so she wouldn't irritate her shin splints.

But the fifth-seeded Ojai resident was forced to alter her plan in the finals as she rallied to beat No. 6 Christina Makarova 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the Girls' 14 singles final.

The title was Chiang's second at sectionals after winning the Girls' 12s two years ago. But this one had more sentimental meaning because it was a gift for her parent's 20th wedding anniversary.

Robert and Fumie Chiang celebrated their marriage milestone a day before the final.

"I really wanted to win this for them," Yuki Chiang said. "I am just really happy I could give them this as a gift."

Newport Beach's Joseph Di Giulio remained on track for a sectional divisional singles sweep after rallying to beat No. 3 Drew Dawson of Irvine 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the Boys' 14s.

The second-seeded Di Giulio had previously won the Boys' 10s and 12s titles and can complete his trophy set with the 16s and 18s titles.

"It was a really tough match, but I just battled it out somehow," he said. "He was playing really well and hitting the ball hard and he wasn't missing too much. He had me on the move a lot and I had to fight for every point really hard."

Dawson was competing in only his second sectionals after moving to Southern California from Chicago.

Dawson lost to Di Giulio in last year's event 6-0, 6-1 in the early rounds.

"I thought this match could have gone either way, but the bottom line is he played very well," Dawson said. "I had a lot of confidence in my game here though."

Di Giulio has made the Davis Cup team that is headed to the Czech Republic.

"That is going to be exciting," he said. "I have never been there so the competition and representing the United States should be really fun."

Top-seeded Logan Smith of Carlsbad captured his second sectionals title with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 4 Garrett Mak of Arcadia in the Boys' 12 singles final.

Smith, who won the Boys' 10 crown two years ago, let match points slip away while holding leads at 5-2 and 5-3 before closing it out.

"He focused a lot more on the match points and brought his game up," Smith said. "I didn't play my game, but on the last match point I finally said, 'I can't take it anymore,' and played my game."

Mak was pleased with reaching his first sectionals final.

"I thought I played pretty good, but he just played better today," Mak said. "It was a good match that could have gone either way."

Smith hoped to celebrate his title by attending the Del Mar Fair, and might play some tournaments in China this summer while visiting his grandparents.

"That should be fun," he said. "I would like to get to play against other people from around the world."

The only piece missing from Carolyn Xie's sectionals triple crown was a singles title. The top seed from San Diego completed that element this year.

Xie led No. 4 Elizabeth Profit 6-3, 3-2 in the Girls' 14 singles final when Profit was forced to retire.

Xie's trophy will take its place alongside her sectionals doubles and mixed doubles crowns.

"It is a great accomplishment and I am really proud of myself," she said. "It is an honor to have this opportunity to go for three and I hope to come back to win more of these kinds of titles."

Profit, a diabetic, said her blood sugar level was dangerously high when she started the match and she decided to retire after she began having chest pains.

Profit recently experienced a growth spurt, which makes it more difficult to control her juvenile diabetes, according to her parents.

"I felt like I was having a heart attack and couldn't play anymore," Profit said. "I didn't want to even chance it."

But Profit didn't consider the loss a complete downer after beating the No. 2 seed in the semifinals

"I was supposed to lose that one, so making the finals was a great opportunity for me," she said. "I was really happy."

Top-seeded Paris Todd of Ladera Ranch was the first official champion crowned at the sectionals after beating No. 4 Claire Liu of Thousand Oaks 6-2, 6-2 in the Girls' 10 singles final.

Todd cruised through the draw, losing only nine sets in five matches.

Sporting pink nail polish to match the pink swoosh on her Nikes, Todd achieved her goal of reaching No. 1 in the Girls' 10s rankings before aging out of the division.

"I think I played good in some rounds and bad in some rounds," Todd said. "But I think overall I played pretty well."

Fourth-seeded Bryce Pereira of San Gabriel defeated his doubles partner Connor Hance of Torrance 7-6, 6-4 to capture the Boys' 10 singles crown.

Pereira rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the second set to win his first sectionals title, punctuating the victory with a fist pump.

"I just had a lot of heart and kept believing," Pereira said. "I just told myself to keep believing because every time you say that to yourself you can usually make a comeback."

Pereira lost in three sets the last time he played Hance, and conceded it's always hard to face his doubles partner.

"My last match against him I became too friendly and lost," Pereira said. "I tried not to be as friendly this time."

Although the third-seeded Hance was disappointed with the loss, he was satisfied with his tournament run. The highlight was a semifinal victory over No. 1 seed Eric Nguyen of Huntington Beach.

"That felt pretty good," Hance said. "I am happy at how I did here. I had fun."

And the award goes to...

Along with Kosakowski, many other players were honored at the annual banquet for their achievements in 2008 while being treated to an excellent Italian dinner. Thien-Trang Nguyen and JT Sundling received the Evelyn Houseman Lifetime Sportsmanship Awards, Kaitlyn Christian and Steve Johnson received the Player of the Year awards, Stephanie Hoffpauir and Kosakowski were given the Most Improved Player awards.

The age division sportsmanship awards were presented to: Kristina Smith and Chase Melton in the 18s, Hazuki Onaga and Johnny Wang in the 16s, Cassidy Spearman and Travis Tu in the 14s, Yuki Asami and Reid Shumway in the 12s and Ryan Peus and Liam Caruana in the 10s.

The Special SCTA Junior Tennis Council Award winners in recognition of the junior sectionals "Triple Crown" winners were Maxwell Cancilla and Christian.