Rosalia Alda, who just completed her freshman tennis season at the University of Tennessee, started her summer with a championship at the Texas Summer Grand Slam on Saturday.

The ninth-seeded Alda defeated second-seeded Hideko Tachibana 6-1, 6-4 in the 18 girls singles championship match at Texas A&M's Mitchell Tennis Center.

Alda, who had an 18-13 singles record at Tennessee this season, won six matches to claim the championship in the Grand Slam, a United States Tennis Association Super Champs event. The 2007 Class 5A state champion from Round Rock Westwook knocked off the top two seeds in successive days to claim the title.

Alda lost just one set in the tournament, dropping the opener in a 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 semifinal win over the top-seeded Kimbell. Tachibana and Kimbell won the doubles title earlier.

Heather Steinbauer, who won the Class 5A state singles championship for The Woodlands College Park this year, took the consolation final. Steinbauer beat Austin's Brett Ellen Keeler 7-5, 6-0. It was Alda's quarterfinal victory that sent Steinbauer to the consolation bracket.

Kimbell, the two-time class 4A state champion who plays her high school tennis for the New Braunfels Unicorns, beat Houston's Ariel Morton 6-3, 6-1 in the third-place match. Kimbell, who will be a junior at New Braunfels, moved with her family from Washington state to Texas to attend John Newcombe's Tennis Ranch.

Third-seeded Ryan Anthony Ybarra of Palestine will face Canyon Lake's Isamu Tachibana, a fifth seed, in the boys 18 singles final Sunday.

Ybarra, a three-time TAPPS state champion at Tyler All Saints, defeated ninth-seeded Nathan Robinson of Abilene Cooper, 6-1, 6-4. Isamu Tachibana secured his spot in the finals in a showdown of No. 5 seeds.

Isamu Tachibana, who will play at Rice, defeated David Holiner, who attends Dallas Spring Creek Academy, 6-3, 7-5.

The third-place match between Robinson and Holiner is set for 8 a.m. Sunday. Ybarra and Isamu Tachibana play at 9.

The top two seeds met in the consolation semifinals. Spring's top-seeded Benjamin Chen defeated second seed Max Stevens of Dallas, 7-5, 2-0, when Stevens was forced to retire with an injury.

In the other consolation semifinal, Bryan Welnetz of Laredo United, the defending state 5A champion, beat New Braunfels' Tyler Brown 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

The consolation final is at 8 a.m. Sunday.

In the consolation quarterfinals, Chen outlasted Houston's Adam Putterman 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. Stevens advanced with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Sugar Land's Daniel Whitehead.

Welnetz also split sets before winning against Austin's Chris Camillone 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. Camillone had won the doubles title with Plano's Ben Guthrie. Brown beat San Antonio's David Pace 6-3, 6-4.

• David Campbell's e-mail address is david.campbell@theeagle.com.

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