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Tournament Feature
King, Pasha Take Clay Titles in Delray Beach
by Anne Violette, 25 July 2008
AMAZING VICTORIES
He rubbed the sweat off his brow when facing a near upset in the semifinal round against Sean Berman in the USTA Clay Court Championships held in Delray Beach, Florida. However, Nathan Pasha of Georgia made it back the last two sets to win 1-6; 6-1; 6-3. His reward was a match-up in the finals with Zach Leslie of San Diego, California.
16s Clay Court Champion
Nathan Pasha © Julie Wrege, TennisRecruiting.net
Leslie played an equally fierce stretch of days, beating six other youths to make it to the challenging final round. Fans gathered from all over the country to watch these new rising tennis stars as they played their hearts out from July 13 - 19th in the Boys' 16 Singles Tournament. The Boys' 18 Singles Championship was equally as exciting, with more seasoned competitors returning for a chance to win a coveted USTA gold ball - and to earn the respect of college coaches in attendance.
Leslie went into the finals as the #3 seed, while Pasha was unseeded in the tournament. Hundreds of tennis fans who had cheered on other early favorites watched with curiosity. Pasha played his game with finesse and willpower, imposing sneaky shots and scoring well with accurate serves. He defeated Leslie by a convincing 6-2; 6-2 score to win the championship.
Top-seeded contender Jack Sock out of Lincoln, Nebraska reached the quarterfinals where he was knocked out by Berman, setting up the matchup between Berman and Pasha, two unseeded players, in the semis.
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