The opening round of the Texas Summer Grand Slam was running behind schedule, so Daniel Lee of Dallas found a shady spot to work on a crossword puzzle Monday morning.

A few hours later, Lee discovered the six-letter answer to "College Station's first family in junior tennis."

Cepeda.

Marco Cepeda defeated Lee 6-1, 6-3 in the Boys 12 singles bracket at A&M Consolidated, advancing at the same facility where his older brother and sister both played No. 1 singles for the Tigers.

Later in the afternoon, Cepeda was knocked into the consolation bracket with a 6-3, 6-3 loss to No. 9 seed King Roy of San Antonio. Cepeda, the last local player in the Grand Slam, will play at Texas A&M at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

In the first round, Cepeda's solid ground strokes and powerful backhand proved too much for Lee to solve. It was a welcome start after Cepeda dropped both of his matches in his Grand Slam debut last year.

"Usually I'm a little bit shaky in the first round, but I pulled this one through and I'm feeling really good right now," Cepeda said. "It gives me confidence."

Cepeda, 12, will be a seventh grader at College Station Middle School in the fall. He was a couple of inches taller and several pounds heavier than the scrappy Lee, who was playing in his second event since moving up to the USTA's elite Super Champs level.

The opening set was a blur, with Cepeda taking the first five games. Cepeda dictated play on most points, winning with patience and a potent backhand while the speedy Lee tried to counter-punch.

Scheduled for 10:40 a.m., the match began at 12:31 p.m. The hot, humid conditions seemed to sap both players during the second set, which Lee made more interesting by chasing down shot after shot.

"I felt really warm and a little dizzy," Cepeda said. "I told myself to take one point at a time and go strong to the finish."

Each set featured one long game in which Cepeda outlasted Lee for service breaks. In each case, Lee responded with his only breaks of the match. He pulled within 3-2 in the second set by becoming more aggressive and attacking the net often. Cepeda regained control with improved ground strokes, particularly on the backhand side.

"His volleys really worked for him," Cepeda said. "I was sure that if I could pass him or try to use the lob it would work out for me."

Serving for the match, Cepeda trailed love-40 and faced four break points before another solid backhand caused Lee to send a shot into the net that ended the match after 1 hour, 21 minutes.

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NOTES -- Three days into the singles competition, five players seeded fourth or higher have been beaten in the eight divisions. The biggest upset so far came in Girls 16, where unseeded Mason Strickland of Plano beat top-seeded Makenzie Craft of Frisco 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the round of 32. ... Other upsets included Allen Gwo of Plano beating No. 2 seed Jimmy Zhang 6-4, 6-2 in Boys 16 and Lisa Carvajal of Plano over No. 3 seed Elena Muller 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in Girls 14. ... A couple of high seeds fell in Girls 18. Blair Shankle of Comfort defeated No. 3 Megan Horter 6-1, 7-6 and Peggy Porter of Dallas beat No. 4 Nicole Long 4-6, 7-5, 1-0, taking the super tiebreaker 10-6.