Winter Nationals Week
Seggerman and Kung Capture Winter 18s Titles
by Todd Holcomb, 6 January 2017
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Princeton-bound senior Ryan Seggerman of Coronado, Calif., and sophomore Chelsea Kung of Fort Worth, Texas, were the 18U singles champions this week at the USTA National Winter Championships in Chandler, Ariz., where upsets were common and none of the top-five seeds made the semifinals in either draw.
It was the first-ever singles national title for Seggerman or Kung. Each lost only one set in the tournament, in the semifinals, and each had to grind through their semifinal and final matches on Monday after rain washed out the New Year's Day schedule.
Seggerman, the No. 14 prospect in the class of 2017, defeated seventh seed Robert Maciag of Sterling, Va., 7-5, 7-5 for the boys title after surviving 16th seed Jenson Brooksby, the No. 2 sophomore in the country, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals.
Seggerman's three-set win took three hours. He trailed 4-6, 4-5, love-30 on his serve and hit an ace to begin his comeback.
"That was definitely a good way to help myself," Seggerman said, "It was one of the few aces I hit in the match. Two points from losing, I wasn't feeling like I was going to win at that point. So I wasn't really nervous. I was just playing loose, and it worked out for me."
Seggerman, who is 6 feet, 4 inches, said his serve was probably his best shot throughout the tournament.
"My serve definitely got me through a lot of matches," he said. "If my holds are more secure, then - when returning - I can play riskier to find a break. My groundstrokes were OK, but I wouldn't say more dominant than anybody I played. I would say my served helped me, and competing for every point. A lot of the matches could've gone either way and were determined by just a few points."
