Longtime practice partners and big-time movers up the junior tennis ranks, Jeremy Efferding and Shane Vinsant played the 10th game of their match as if the College Station ITF championship was riding on it.

It was. Efferding fought off three game points and delivered on his second break opportunity to seize the opening set 6-4 and then cruised through the second set 6-0 at Texas A&M's Mitchell Tennis Center on Saturday morning.

The international event for players 18 and younger featured a field made up primarily of Americans. The seven-day tournament finished Saturday, when a cool, dreary morning was brightened with potential flashed by a pair of 15-year-olds in Efferding and Vinsant.

Efferding was born in Dallas and spent his first 11 years there. Now he lives in Florida, where he trains at the USTA national center in Boca Raton as a member of the national development team.

It was the first ITF championship for Efferding, who was seeded 12th in the 64-player field for boys singles.

"It's a huge honor for me," Efferding said. "I'm so happy. For me it's a milestone and a breakthrough to finally win an ITF tournament.

"It makes me feel that I can go to the next level. My goal for this year is to play in the Junior U.S. Open, and this will give me huge confidence going into the spring championships next week in California."

Efferding came into the College Station tournament ranked about 530th in the world among players 18 and under. He expects to climb as many as 200 spots after the victory.

Vinsant lives in Keller and visits the USTA center in Florida to train with the national team. The sixth seed, Vinsant has played at the Mitchell Center in the past during Summer Grand Slam events. Vinsant and Efferding are frequent practice foes, but they had not played each other in a tournament for about two years.

Efferding started fast, breaking Vinsant's serve for a 3-1 lead. Vinsant responded with an immediate break, and the players remained on serve until Efferding prevailed in a tense 10th game. Unable to convert on three chances to pull even at 5-5, Vinsant finally sent a forehand wide to drop the set.

"That one point was the momentum switcher," Efferding said. "That one point made the difference between winning and losing that match."

The second set was a blur, as errors crept into Vinsant's game. Efferding and Vinsant squared off again in the boys doubles final, with Efferding and partner Andrew Korinek beating Vinsant and Spencer Newman 4-6, 6-0, (10-7).

In the girls singles final, No. 13 seed Nicole Melichar of Stuart, Fla., battled back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over unseeded Hideko Tachibana of Canyon Lake. Tachibana, another player with experience at the A&M courts from the Grand Slam, upset top-seeded Laura Slater 6-2, 6-2 in the second round.

Boys champion Efferding has big plans for his tennis career, and his goals seemed just a bit closer after Saturday's win.

"My hope and dream is to become No. 1 in the world and play professional tournaments, experience the Grand Slams, Olympics and Davis Cup," Efferding said. "It's all God's will. If He wants me to go to college first, that's what I will do."