Despite Rain, Tournament Marches On

Not even a steady rain could wash away the first round of the Virginia AAA tennis tournament yesterday. Once organizers moved play from Jefferson District Park to the Fairfax Racquet Club, several local stand-outs dominated the opening round.

All-Met Player of the Year, Stuart's Justin Shane made light work of E.C. Glass senior George Gianakos, 6-1, 6-1. Shane played aggressively early on, coming to the net and forcing Gianakos to lob the ball over the 6 feet 4 inch junior. Shane will play Deep Run's Hunter Koontz in tomorrow's semifinals.

"I was really able to stay aggressive today," Shane said. "I really had my serve and forehand working to my advantage and tried to put some pressure on him."

For Gianakos, the loss marks the end of his most successful, yet painful tennis season. Following the fatal car accident of singles player Nelson James Sept. 27, an accident that left Gianakos seriously injured, the E.C. Glass boys' tennis team dedicated their performance to their friend and former teammate.

Fairfax senior Sidarth Balaji continued his dominance over everyone not named Shane, beating Stonewall Jackson's Jimmy Davis, 6-3, 6-4. Familiar with each other having trained together at the Four Star Training Center in Fairfax, the two have faced each other once before. Balaji, a first team All-Met for the third consecutive year, signed a letter of intent to play for Northwestern University and has also beaten Davis 6-4, 7-5 in a junior tournament this past summer.

"I thought I played pretty well today," Davis said. "He was just too good. He's got a huge serve. I was up 4-3 and had a break point, but he pulled out an ace and held on from there."

Fairfax Coach Dave Bauer said afterwards that Balaji felt comfortable heading into the match and that things went as expected for the most part.

"It pretty much unfolded how we expected it to," Bauer said. "Jimmy played him pretty tough, but Sidarth just played like he could and took control of the match." Balaji will play top seeded Kyle Parker of Mills Godwin tomorrow.

In doubles, Shane and Daniel Santos advanced over Eastern Region champions Ian Fraser and Cameron Brawley (Frank W. Cox), 6-1, 6-1. While Balaji and sophomore Jason Luu defeated Princess Anne's Grant Cutchin and Connor Hoerr, 6-1, 6-0.

"They weren't as experienced playing together as we are," Luu said. "We tried to take advantage of that by being as aggressive as possible on our first serves and returns. From there we tried to attack the net and finish as fast as we could to get ready for our next match." Luu and Balaji will take on top-seeded Kyle Parker and Kevin McMillen from Mills Godwin.

One the girls' side, Marshall freshman Faby Chaillo extended her unbeaten streak to 24 consecutive matches when she defeated Albermarle's Magan Napolitano, 6-4, 6-1. Chaillo rarely made an unforced error, tracking down nearly every ball and returning it with her now-trademark high-arching returns. The high returns frustrated Napolitano into numerous unforced errors and gave Chaillo enough time to recover her positioning. She will take on Atlee's Yasmin Fotovat in the semifinals.

Chaillo and sophomore Ana Dominguez also advanced in the doubles bracket when they defeated First Colonial's Alex Ritter and Jordan McEwan, 6-2, 6-1.

Loudoun Valley's Kiersten Pappas also advanced to the quarterfinals defeating Westfield's Yillian Zhang, 6-2, 6-3. Battling illness prior to the match, Pappas decided against warming up prior to the match, choosing instead to save her energy. The decision proved wise against Zhang, the 2007 state champion known for her powerful ground strokes. Instead of attempting to match Zhang's power, Pappas aimed to keep the ball in play, extending the point as long as possible. For Pappas, it was her first head-to-head victory over Zhang.

"The thing about Yillian is that she's not very patient," Westfield Coach Steve Lombard said afterwards. "She likes to finish points quickly and when that doesn't happen, things don't seem to go well for her. Kiersten played a really smart match and got the monkey off her back."

Pappas will advance to face Douglas Freeman's Emily Hahn.

Sarver Wins Girls' Title

George Mason High senior Michelle Repper dropped a 6-1, 7-5 decision to Grace Sarver of Bland County in the Virginia Class A girls' tennis finals yesterday in Radford. Earlier in the day, Repper beat Andi Kilgore of J.J. Kelly High 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinals.

In the AA semifinals yesterday, Carla Wong of Freedom-South Riding lost 6-0, 6-3 to Hidden Valley's Kristin Harter, who went on to win the finals in a three-set match over Jamestown's Kelly Little.

Notes: All of today's matches will take place at the Fairfax Racquet Club. Both boys and girls singles matches will begin at 10:30 a.m. and doubles will then be played at 1:30 p.m.