Nicholas Bradham falls to Felix Hollaway in Grand Slam

Nicholas Bradham enjoyed a breakthrough weekend at the Capsher Texas Grand Slam, but there was no getting past Felix Hollaway.

Bradham, a 13-year-old from College Station, made his first venture into the Super Champs Boys 14 level of the United States Tennis Association after winning a pair of qualifying matches Friday. Bradham dropped his opening match in the main draw Saturday, then won his first consolation match Sunday morning before running into the towering presence of Hollaway, who is a year older and about a foot taller.

A big Dallas Mavericks fan who wore a Mavs cap during the match, the 5-foot Bradham came up to the shoulders of the 5-11 Hollaway. In Mavericks' terms, it was like 6-foot guard J.J. Barea going one-on-one against 7-footer Dirk Nowitski.

Bigger was much better Sunday afternoon at Jane Long Middle School as Hollaway overpowered Bradham 6-0, 6-1.

"I have to deal with it a lot by how small I am," Bradham said. "I can find a way to beat them sometimes, but it's hard being one of the smallest ones out there.

"I think I tried my best, but I don't think I played my best. I think I was kinda tired from the other matches."

Bradham won his first consolation match Sunday morning, fighting back to beat Ryan Hargrove 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-8). A couple of hours later, Bradham returned to the summer sun to face Hollaway, who was playing his first match of the day because he won his opening match before dropping into the consolation bracket.

Hollaway, 14, is in his last summer at Boys 14 and will be a high school freshman in the fall. Bradham, who has another year in the age group, will be going into the eighth grade at College Station Middle School.

Although Bradham reached the Super Champ level in Boys 12, he had played only one tournament at the higher division in the 14 and under class. He was one of 16 players from the Champs level who were invited to compete for four spots in the Grand Slam.

Bradham opened with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Tyler Wilkie, then punched his ticket into the main draw by rallying to defeat Varun Srinivasan 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

"I just wanted to come out here and see if I could make it," Bradham said. "I wasn't planning on getting this far. After I won the first match I got really, really nervous because I was so close to making this tournament. But it happened. It felt amazing, like the weight of the world was off my shoulders."

Bradham, whose father is the tennis professional at Miramont Country Club, took up tennis four years ago. Bradham said he loves playing tennis, although he isn't fond of the nerves that set in before matches. The butterflies weren't as bad before his first match in the main draw, when he lost 6-4, 6-2 against Daniel Navid on Saturday.

"I was no longer nervous because there's a lot of kids who wish they were me right now," Bradham said.

Hollaway gave his smaller opponent fits with his power game and also frustrated Bradham with deep, looping shots that pushed the local entry far behind the baseline. On one typical point, the players traded baseline top spin shots until Bradham, playing into the breeze, was pushed all the way back to the chain link fence and whiffed on a ball that bounded all the way to the fence over his head.

Bradham broke through to win his only game after trailing 3-0 in the second set. He avoided the shutout as he cashed in on a couple of nice shots and two errors by Hollaway.

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NOTES -- College Station's Frankie Colunga beat Daniel Berry 6-1, 6-1 in the third round of Boys 16 Singles on Sunday. Colunga moved into the round of 32 where he will face top-seeded Bayo Phillips at 12:15 p.m. Monday at the Texas A&M intramural courts. ... Jacy Smith of Bryan will start play in the Girls 12 Singles by facing Chelsea Kung at 9 a.m. Monday at Bryan High.