Abrams Gets Lift With Sectional Tennis Victory

Three years ago Newport Beach’s Geoff Abrams was one of the most promising junior tennis players in the nation. But Abrams’ ranking and his confidence have taken some hard shots over the last few years.

Sunday at Los Caballeros Sports Village, Abrams defeated Rancho Santa Fe’s David White, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, to win the boys’ 18 title at the Southern California Junior Sectionals--a tournament Abrams was forced to qualify for after being dropped from the U.S. national team this year.

Abrams, 17, still wasn’t the dominant player he had been as a 14- or 15-year-old, but he showed some fight and some maturity in coming back from a one-set deficit and deficits in the second and third sets. And he even showed a smile after winning his first tournament in more than 18 months.

“It’s good to get a win under your belt,” said Abrams, who last won the Port Washington, N.Y., Open, a boys’ 16 international tournament, in December, 1993. “It’s nice to win any tournament, especially a tournament this big.”

“Hopefully this will help me get going again.”

In hopes of getting his game and his confidence back, Abrams left Newport Harbor High in January for Palmer Tennis Academy in Tampa, Fla. That meant Abrams wasn’t able to play in any Southern California junior tournament to get ranked, so he was forced to qualify for this sectional.

Nine matches later, Abrams has a sectional title and a berth in the U.S. National Hardcourts in August at Kalamazoo, Mich.

“There was a lot of ruckus over whether I should even be allowed in this tournament,” said Abrams, who hasn’t decided if he’ll return to Palmer for his senior year.

Abrams, unseeded, defeated No. 3 Kelly Gullett of Whittier, No. 7 Nick Varvais of Simi Valley and No. 2 Noah Newman of Los Angeles to reach the finals. White, also unseeded, defeated No. 1 Jason Cook of Woodland Hills and No. 5 Joseph Gilbert of Fullerton.

“There was a lot of pressure on me to win this tournament, but I was looking forward to it from the start,” Abrams said.

White, who will play next year at Brigham Young, said Abrams raised his level of play in the second and third sets.

“He started hitting his backhand up the line and I missed a lot of stupid shots,” White said.

White missed his most important shots when he had three break points on Abrams with the third-set game score, 4-4. He made two unforced errors and Abrams hit a big serve to reach deuce. Abrams eventually held serve.

“If he had won his serve and then had a chance to serve for the match, it would have been a lot different,” Abrams said.

Tennis Notes

Newport Beach’s Taylor Dent won the boys’ 14 title with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over San Marino’s John Paul Fruttero. Joseph Gilbert was third in the boys’ 18s as was Fullerton’s Ryan Moore (boys’ 16s) and Villa Park’s Faye DeVera (girls’ 16s).

In the girls’ 18 doubles final, Monique Allegre of Camarillo and Brandi Freudenberg of Orange defeated Kirsten Gross of Calabasas and Shera Wiegler of Bell Canyon, 6-1, 6-1. In the boys’ 18 doubles final, Dylan Mann of Canoga Park and Ryan Thompson of Santa Ana beat Gilbert and Kelly Gullett, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3.