Team Elite Members Collect US National Championships

Team Elite members Gail Brodsky and Chase Buchanan have earned main draw wild cards into the U.S. Open with victories in USTA National 18s Championships, while Victoria Duval has claimed the Girls 14s single title.

Brooklyn New York's Brodsky, 17, was the top seed in Berkeley, Calif., site of the USTA Girls 18 National Championships. The 2007 Easter Bowl champion, who plays with a MicroGel Extreme Pro, survived tough tests in the fifth round and in the quarterfinals, but took straight set wins in the semis and finals to assure herself a place among the 128 contestants in the women's draw at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Brodsky also reached the finals in doubles at the Berkeley Tennis Club.

Buchanan, also 17, teamed with Ryan Harrison to capture the USTA Boys 18 National doubles title in Kalamazoo, Mich. The 2008 Easter Bowl champion, Buchanan, of New Albany, Ohio, plays with a MicroGel Radical MP. With a main draw wild card into the US Open men's doubles on the line, Buchanan and Harrison, the eighth seeds, snatched a three-set victory from No. 2 seeds Steve Johnson and Poway, Calif.'s Bradley Klahn, a Team Elite member who uses a MicroGel Prestige MP.

Other outstanding performances in Kalamazoo include the 16s doubles title won by Fontana Calif's Raymond Sarmiento, who plays with a MicroGel Prestige Mid. Sarmiento and partner Evan King, the top seeds, met the challenge in the final, taking a three-set win over No. 6 seeds Denis Kudla and his partner, Team Elite member Junior Ore of Gaithersburg.

Sarmiento also finished fifth in 16s singles, winning the consolation tournament with a straight set victory over Team Elite member Mitchell Frank in the Feed-In final.

In Peachtree City, Ga., 12-year-old Victoria Duval claimed the USTA Girls 14s National Championship. Seeded alphabetically in the 9-16 category, she lost only one set en route to the title. Duval, of Delray Beach, Fla., plays with a MicroGel Instinct.

Team Elite's Chanelle Van Nguyen, of Miami, Fla., a MicroGel Instinct user, and partner Breaunna Addison were doubles finalists in the Girls 14s competition.

At the USTA Girls 12s Nationals in Alpharetta, Ga., Team Elite performer Taylor Townsend of Jonesboro, Ga., wielding a MicroGel Radical MP, was a finalist in both singles and doubles.