College Station's Colunga advances at Grand Slam

College Station tennis player Frankie Colunga took the first step on what he hopes will be a long run at the Capsher Texas Grand Slam on Saturday, and he took it with authority.

Colunga, who drew a first-round bye, opened the Boys 16 Singles competition by rolling to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Kennan Dishman of Knippa at the Texas A&M intramural courts Saturday morning.

The Grand Slam is the biggest junior tennis tournament in Texas, and Boys 16 Singles is the largest division with nearly 190 entries. Colunga is not among the 32 seeded players in the bracket, but he entered the event with high hopes.

"Every tournament you go in trying to win the whole thing," Colunga said. "If I could win this tournament it would be amazing. It would be a dream come true since it's right where I live and it's the biggest tournament in Texas."

Colunga will play in the round of 64 at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

Last year Colunga won his first Grand Slam match then dropped his next two while competing in Boys 16.

"I'm trying to do better than all the years before," Colunga said. "I think I made the round of 16 one time in a younger division."

Already A&M Consolidated's No 1 singles player, Colunga will be a junior for the Tigers in the fall. He won the District 12-5A championship and reached the Region II tournament last spring.

Colunga trains at Pebble Creek Country Club, and he recently augmented his instruction by spending a week at the Austin Tennis Academy, practicing and playing up to seven hours per day.

The preparation paid off in Saturday's match against Dishman, a 15-year-old who was playing at the USTA Super Champs level for the first time in Boys 16. Colunga won the first four games then recovered from one loose game to take the last eight in a match that lasted 1 hour, 9 minutes.

"I felt like I played well," Colunga said. "I was serving really well, and I felt really fast. My reactions were on top. I just felt like if I could make him hit another ball, then I could put the point away.

"My goal is to play solid and do as well as I can. Hopefully if I put a lot of matches together, I think I can do really well here."

It was a rough introduction into the Super Champ level for Dishman, who is coming off a successful freshman season at the high school level. Dishman reached the Class A state championship match last month, winning twice at the state tournament before falling to Matt Banner of Mason in straight sets.

Colunga's forehand had more pace than any of Dishman's shots. There were several hard-fought rallies that lasted 15 or 20 strokes, but Colunga stayed in control most of the match.

Three or four errors contributed to the only game Colunga lost, but otherwise he hometown entry avoided any stretches of trouble. Dishman began to target Colunga's backhand during the second set, but it didn't change the momentum.

Colunga had one ace and finished with five service winners. Several other times Dishman was able to return serve but had to go on the defensive.

"I'm just starting to work on getting my backhand super solid," Colunga said. "Hopefully I can get my serve a lot bigger, more flat."

Colunga hopes a strong summer will draw attention from college coaches.

"I just try to play my game and never get negative," Colunga said. "Hopefully colleges will notice that and look at me."

Colunga is competing in Boys 16 Doubles with Connor Curry of Wichita Falls. They won their opening match Friday, beating John King and Jacob Rose 8-6. Colunga and Curry were scheduled to play in the round of 32 on Saturday night.

The tournament will continue with matches from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. Sunday at nine sites in Bryan and College Station.