Raegan Rigney made a great run in the girls 16U division of the city junior tennis tournament, and she capped it off in a big way Sunday.
Rigney, who will be a sophomore at Greensburg and played No. 1 singles for the Pirates as a freshman this spring, participated in the city tournament for the first time.
“I like this tournament, and it was a lot of fun playing in it,” Rigney said.
Rigney, after defeating top-seeded Shweta Srinivasan of Columbus North in the semifinal round on Saturday, downed Jaline Tay 6-2, 6-0 to win the championship.
“It’s pretty cool,” Rigney said. “I’ve never won a tournament before. I just had to stay focused and keep playing with confidence. If I was down, I had to come back and fight through it.”
Rigney is hopeful she will come back and play in the tournament next year.
In the boys 16U finals, top seeded Joey Zhao made quick work of Coltan Henderson 6-2, 6-0 to claim the championship.
In the boys 14U semifinals, both matches went to third-set tiebreakers. In the first semifinal, Brett Stinger defeated Joseph Kloepfer 4-6, 6-3, 10-5. In the other semifinal, Sam Bower defeated Armitanshu Kar 6-7 (2), 6-4, 10-8. In the championship, Stinger defeated Bower.
One of the four men’s open singles quarterfinals were also played Sunday. Anthony Sanders defeated Benjamin Mathew 7-5, 6-1.
The rest of the men’s singles quarterfinal brackets are set, with three Round of 16 matches concluding Sunday. David Chader defeated Akshaya Sabapathy 6-2, 6-0. Columbus East girls and boys tennis coach Matt Malinsky topped Martin Alcocer 6-2, 6-2. Luke Red won against Christopher Ruble 6-1, 6-2.
In the quarterfinals of the men’s B singles tournament, Prem Jha downed Camoy Gilles 6-4, 6-1, Michael Fox topped Hugh Cunningham 6-4, 6-0 and Kable Walton defeated Jordan Morey 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-1.
In the mixed open doubles competition, Jody and Paige Littrell won against Red and Carole Lemmke 6-2, 6-4.
In the men’s open doubles competition, Michael and Alex Pegram defeated Kevin Merritt and Ethan Wallace 7-6 (4), 6-3. Sanders and Rahul Jha downed Sabapathy and Gabe Kirch.
In the men’s B doubles bracket, Alex Stevens and Nathan Linen won against Kevin Dillion and Chaise Mousa 6-2, 7-5.
