Plano's Guthrie ousts Klores

Eagle photo/Dave McDermand

Austin lost his mojo.

After a hot start by Franklin's Austin Klores, Plano's Ben Guthrie picked up his game midway through the first set and held off Klores for a 6-4, 6-4 victory at the Texas Summer Grand Slam Wednesday.

Klores was up a break early in the first set, but Guthrie stepped up his attack in the eight game of the match, breaking Klores' serve at love.

Despite an opening ace by Klores, Guthrie clinched the set by battling back to break serve.

Guthrie had the only service break of the second set. He hit the line to make it 0-40 and the 17th seed finished off the upset of the ninth-seeded Klores on the next point in the round of 32 match.

"Every match gets harder and this was definitely a tough match," Guthrie said. "Throughout the match I kept getting steadier and it seemed like I made one more ball than he would take, so he would start missing."

"I kind of got tired, but he picked up his game," said the Texas A&M-bound Klores, who has played all of his matches at the Mitchell Tennis Center. "Give him credit for that."

Some long exchanges led to Klores missing shots that had seemed second nature to him early in the opening set. He was good enough to keep the match close, but where Guthrie seemed to struggle to stay with Klores early, the situation reversed in the second set.

As some of Klores' power and accuracy waned, Guthrie, who plays for Plano West, fed off of that.

"Early, I wasn't playing too well and didn't make a lot of first serves," Guthrie said. "As I got into the match, I played more high percentage tennis and it seemed to work, and he got frustrated and started missing more."

The four-time Class 2A state champion from Franklin, had had to deal with a stress fracture in his back.

"I haven't played a tournament in seven months," said Klores. "I'm just getting back into it and wasn't 100 percent physically fit. I wore down and he played well."

The win sent Guthrie to the quarterfinals against Canyon Lake's Isamu Tichibana and dropped Klores into consolation play.

Klores is scheduled to play his doubles partner and No. 2 seed Max Stevens in an 8 a.m. match Thursday. Stevens, who was upset Tuesday, had to win a qualifier, 6-2, 6-1, over another Dallas player, Christopher Bell, to earn the match with Klores.

The first championship was decided Wednesday. Top-seeded Peggy Porter of Dallas defeated third-seeded Karina Traxler of Rockwall for the girls 12 singles title, 6-0, 6-2.

In the third-place match, Caroline Turner of Frisco beat Houston's Kaylin Kruseman, 6-1, 6-0.

Austin's Jason Haugen and Clayton Niess won boys 12 doubles, 7-6, 6-0 over Temple's Jacob Daugherty and Fort Worth's Alexander Rive.

In girls' 12 doubles, Traxler teamed with Michelle Yang of Plano to win the title over Peggy and Elizabeth Porter, 6-4-6-3.

A&M Consolidated's Kevin Duffy won his morning match against Coppell's Lee Whitehead, 6-4, 6-1, but Duffy's tournament run ended with a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Amarillo's Peter Thomason.

The last remaining area girl in the tournament, College Station's Anik Cepeda, breezed to a 6-0, 6-0 win over Fairview's Mallori Grambeau, setting up her second match of the day against Lubbock's Whitney Wofford. Cepeda beat Wofford, a mixed doubles standout who reached the state finals for Lubbock Coronado, 6-2, 6-3.

Cepeda's wins send her to a fourth-round consolation match at 8 a.m. against Cypress' Kourtney Howell. The winner of that fourth-round match would play a quarterfinal qualifier Thursday afternoon.

In a morning consolation singles match, ninth-seeded Kimberly Anicete of Spring ousted Cameron's Brittni Fausett. Fausett, the junior state semifinalist on the Yoe tennis team dropped a 6-2, 6-4 match. Fausett is a former two-time state champion at Winona.

Wednesday

All matches as Texas A&M's George Mitchell Tennis Center

Boys 18 singles

(Round of 32)

(17) Ben Guthrie, Plano def. (9) Austin Klores, Franklin, 6-4, 6-4

(Consolation -- 3rd round)

Kevin Duffy, College Station vs. Lee Whitehead, Coppell, 6-4, 6-1.

(Consolation -- 4th round qualifier)

Peter Thomason, Amarillo def. Kevin Duffy, College Station,

Girls 18 singles

(Consolation -- 3rd round)

Anik Cepeda, College Station vs. Mallori Grambeau, Fairview, 6-0. 6-0.