Bolstered by a large contingent of family and friends, Kalamazoo’s Paul Oosterbaan and partner Ronnie Schneider, Bloomington, Ind., won the boys 18s doubles championship and the wild card into the main doubles draw of the U.S. Open. Oosterbaan and Schneider, the No. 3 seeds, defeated No. 4 Henry Craig, Murrieta, Calif., and George Goldhoff, Germantown, Tenn., 7-6(4), 7-6(4). Craig and Goldhoff had set points in both sets, but couldn’t convert them.” It’s just a simple matter of converting set points,” Craig said. “It’s about as close as it could get.” Oosterbaan said he was nervous going into the tiebreak. “I’m sure everyone on the court was feeling it, too,” he said. “Every point really mattered. Lucky we could put it away in a second set tiebreaker.” Schneider said that with the crowd behind them, he never had so much fun playing tennis. “You know when you hit a good shot, they’re going to go nuts,” he said. “Every time, almost every point we won, they went nuts.” Fritz Taylor, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., and Anudeep Kodali, Durham, N.C., won the boys 16s doubles title. The 11th seeds defeated top-seeded Tommy Paul, Boca Raton, Fla., and Alex Rybakov, Coral Springs, Fla., 6-4, 6-4.

Source: USTA Nationals Staff