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Down a set to No. 7 seed Magnus Weng in the Boys 16s final of the USTA National Winter Championships, top-seeded Safir Azam didn't get frustrated or panic.

"He stepped onto the court and just started crushing me," the 15-year-old Redmond, Washington, native said. "I was just mentally accepting that if he played that well, I would have to accept it."

Boys Singles Champion Safir Azam
© Contributed Photo

Azam didn't have to. He turned the tide, beating Weng of San Jose, California, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to win the 128-player singles bracket on clay courts at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.

"This is probably to date my best win, my best tournament," said Azam, who also won the Boys 16s National Indoors gold ball in December and is ranked fourth nationally among ninth-graders.

Paige Wygodzki captured the Girls 16s singles title. The talented left-hander from Huntington, New York, won 14 consecutive sets on clay, including a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 10th-seeded Anjani Vickneswaran of Surprise, Arizona.

"I was very happy with the efficiency of the tournament, keeping every match short and sweet," said the third-seeded Wygodzki. "I was really honing in on the big points, closing out a couple sets that got a little tight. I stayed disciplined with my shots. Everything tied together, and it came with an overall really good week.”

Azam, a blue chip prospect who attends Washington Connections online school and has played tennis since he was 4, has trained at the campus for about five or six months — crediting coaches Jon Glover and Troy Hahn for excellent structure that "significantly improved my game" — but said he hadn't played a tournament in "three or four weeks."

He lost just five games in his first six sets, but "after those first three matches, then the opponents started getting a lot better. I really had to focus up."

Azam handled No. 12 seed Ilias Bouzoubaa of San Diego 6-2, 6-4 in a semifinal to earn a berth against Weng, whose six victories included a grueling 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 semifinal against co-No. 17 Teodor Davidov of Bradenton, Florida.

Azam said he "reset" after Weng's stellar first set. "Around the second game of the second set, I started to feel like he was losing his rhythm," Azam said. "I knew he was going to push everything he had into those first couple of games of the third set. I was able to get a solid lead at 4-1, and on that 5-2 game, I knew I could close it out. That was probably one of my best serving games of the match. I was kind of in a flow state at that point."

Weng, a five-star prospect who attends Leigh High School and is ranked 49th in the junior class, was thrilled to reach the final for his first USTA ball, a silver, saying he thought he'd never advanced past the Round of 64 in a Level 1 event.

"This tournament was one of the first tournaments where I started playing more aggressive in the big moments, not just grinding and hoping my opponents missed," Weng said. "This was my first time staying in the main draw. With the rain delays, it kind of makes playing 'conso' pretty brutal. I've been on that end before, and it's never fun."

Davidov was leading 6-2, 5-1 in the third-place match when Bouzoubaa retired with an injury.

Alexander Suhanitski claimed fifth place, downing co-No. 17 Omar Rhazali of Stamford, Connecticut, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in the consolation final.

Mikaeel Alibaig of Boca Raton, Florida, took the Sportsmanship Award.

Girls Singles Champion Paige Wygodzki
© Zoo Tennis

In the first five rounds, Wygodzki’s closest call was a 6-3, 7-6 (6) decision over Priscilla Sirichantho of Woodbridge, Connecticut, in the Round of 16. Wygodzki downed No. 13 Maria Navarro of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, 6-1, 6-3 in a quarterfinal before handling the Sportsmanship Award winner, No. 14 Baotong Xu of Boca Raton, Florida, 7-5, 6-0 in a semifinal.

That set up her clash with Vickneswaran, who captured the 14s gold ball at the same event a year ago and hadn't lost a set in this year's tournament until encountering Wygodzki.

"After the third round, each match started getting better," Wygodzki said. In the final, "I trusted my training and I trusted the hours I spent on court during the week."

As in her previous match, though, she fell behind by an early service break.

"In the semifinals and finals, I went down 1-3 in both first sets," she said. "Being down 1-3 not only loosened me up for both matches, I took those four games in both matches to learn my opponents. (After that), I told myself, 'Now it's time to step on the gas and hit the ball like you know how to hit the ball. You're going to put all the pieces together.' "

Vickneswaran wanted to “congratulate my opponent on a great tournament. This was a very good tournament for me overall and I think that all my hard work paid off. Each match, I was just telling myself to play point by point and focus. I think I was able to execute my game well, and although I wish I could have won the finals, I am still happy with the results of this tournament.”

No. 5 seed Anna Bugaienko of Frisco, Texas, outlasted Xu 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 for third place. Navarro earned fifth with a 6-2, 7-5 triumph against co-No. 17 seed McKenzie Shelton of Kennesaw, Georgia.

DOUBLES

Unseeded Georgians James Wakefield of Atlanta and Juan Parrilla of Decatur edged No. 2 seeds Nicolas Pedraza of University Park, Maryland, and Lucas Smith of Daniel Island, South Carolina, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 for the Boys 16s doubles title. It was the fifth three-set victory in six matches for the Peach State pair.

Bugaienko took the Girls 16s doubles title alongside Danielle Young of Cary, North Carolina. Seeded third, they defeated No. 6 seeds Lauren Nolan of Little Elm, Texas, and Aya Manning of Irving, Texas, 6-0, 6-3 in the final.

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About Sonny Dearth

Dearth has more than 40 years of experience in tennis. He is a former state high school champion who has served as a volunteer assistant coach in Virginia, where he started for four years at James Madison University in the late 1980s. He has competed in a few USTA national junior and adult events.