Clay Court Championship Week
Georgia's Bryde Reigns Supreme in Winston-Salem
by
Ali Jones, 24 July 2012
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In the battle of wills and forehands between a pair of blue chips, Trent Bryde of Georgia emerged victorious over Californian Roscoe Bellamy in a dazzling display of grace, athleticism, sportsmanship and maturity from each competitor in the Boys 12s Clay Court National Championships.
Bryde, seeded two, rallied from a set down and 3-4 in the second to take the deciding set, 6-2, over the tournament's top seed.
"I'm feeling amazing and mindblowing right now," said the champion after his victory. After converting his second match point with a down-the-line backhand approach, he watched his opponent's forehand pass land wide. He stood for a while at the net as he waited to shake hands, then he sat down and smiled.
"It had been a long week, my legs are tired," he said. "I was just going to win one match at a time and then win my next round and then the next round."
Adding to his fatigue was his success in doubles. Bryde and his partner Boris Kozlov finished third in doubles. Lukas Greif and Danny Thomas, the 9th seeds, won the gold as they beat the 5th seeded team of Brandon Nakashima and Andrew Ton, 6-0, 6-1.
Bryde's path to the finals was much more challenging than runner-up Bellamy's, who had not dropped a set until the finals. He lost only 12 games in six matches. Bellamy is the 2012 Claremont National Open champion and was a semifinalist at the 2012 Spring Nationals in Delray Beach.
"Both kids were the most complete players in the draw," said former touring pro and tournament director Patrick Hieber. "Both of them dominated with their forehands, both had similar styles of playing, good serves and big forehands. In the end Trent was able to dominate more with his forehand and he made fewer mistakes."
