Grand Slam tennis tournament to begin today
The Capsher Texas Grand Slam will get under way Friday with 128 players trying to qualify for four spots in each of the eight age groups. The qualifying round was needed with approximately 980 entries in the week-long tournament that is being hosted by Bryan-College Station for the seventh straight year.
Action will start at 8 a.m. at Miramont Country Club, Rudder High School and Sam Rayburn Middle School.
The main portion of the tournament will start at 3 p.m. Friday with doubles for ages 14 through 18. Two rounds will take place at Bryan High School, A&M Consolidated High School and Texas A&M's intramural courts and the Mitchell Tennis Center.
Singles for ages 14 through 18 will start at 8 a.m. Saturday; 12-year-old doubles will start at 4 p.m. Sunday, and 12-year-old singles will start at 8 a.m. Monday.
There will be tennis on virtually every court in Bryan-College Station daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. starting Saturday until the championship matches scheduled for Thursday and Friday next week.
Every defending champion returns except in 18 girls singles. New Braunfels High's Lilly Kimbell, last year's winner, recently completed her freshman season at Georgia where she played No. 4 singles and No. 2 doubles for the Bulldogs who reached the NCAA Championship quarterfinals.
Local entries include Franklin High sisters Kayla and Carrie Casey who won the Class 2A doubles title by beating Whitney's Andrea Rojas and Robin Wimberly. Bryan's Jacy Smith will compete in Girls 12 singles and doubles. She's seeded ninth in singles and fourth in doubles along with Hunter Domanski who is from New Braunfels. Consol's Francisco Colunga will compete in Boys 16 singles and doubles with teammate Zavier Habib.
Bryan-College Station already has been awarded the event for next year. Tournament director Todd Taylor, who is the director of tennis at Pebble Creek Country Club, said things have gone so well here that no one bid against them last time. The tourney for years was in Wichita Falls.
Taylor said the tournament continues to improve through organization. He said the onsite directors, most of them his ex-students, have helped make the event a success.
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NOTES -- The events banquet will be Sunday night at the Hilton with former A&M football player Hunter Goodwin the keynote speaker. The most entries, about 190, are in 16 boys singles. ... Top boys singles seeds are: Harrison Adams of New Braunfels (18), Bayo Phillips of Houston (16), Grayson Broadus of Carrollton (14) and Zeb Zheng of Sugar Land (12). Top girls seeds are Peggy Porter of Dallas (18), Caroline Turner of Dallas (16), Elizabeth Porter of Dallas (14) and Anna Bright of Fort Worth (12 ). Top boys doubles seeds are: Tam Trinh of Dallas/Andrew Korinek of Mansfield (18), William Jou of Houston/Phillips (16), Jason Haugen of Austin/Christopher Jones of Plano (14) and Alex Gee of Houston/Jack Wang of McAllen (12). Top girls doubles seeds are: Makenzie Craft of Frisco/Peggy Porter of Dallas (18), Liza Fieldsend of New Braunfels/Alexandra Hule of The Woodlands (16), Abigail Chiu of Austin /Porter of Dallas (14) and Jessica Meek of Austin/Hannah Sutton of Austin (12).