By SDCN Staff
San Diego, CA–After a thrilling day of quarterfinal action, the Girls’ 16s semifinal pairings for the 2025 USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s and 18s National Championships are set for Friday at Barnes Tennis Center.
The big surprise of the day took place on Stadium Court as 17th-seeded Hannah Ayrault of Atlanta, ousted top-seeded Carlota Moreno of Knoxville, TN, 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 in two hours and 55 minutes.
The 14-year-old Ayrault captured the first set after scoring a key service break in the 10th game. Moreno roared back as she raised the level of her game and evened the match, winning the second set at love in 32 minutes.
In the third set, Moreno took control and established a commanding 5-2 lead, but Ayrault fought off five match points and broke Moreno’s serve three times to complete an amazing comeback victory to reach Friday’s Girls’ 16s semifinals.
“I stayed positive, and my attitude was super good. I played aggressively. I was able to pull out this match because of my attitude,” Ayrault said. “I’ve known her (Moreno) forever; she’s a friend and obviously an amazing player. It felt great to go out and play some great tennis and win.”
Ayrault will play 33rd-seeded Brooke Kwon of Diamond Bar, CA, on Friday at noon.
In other Girls’ 16s quarterfinal singles matches, fourth-seeded Paige Wygodzki of Huntington, NY, edged unseeded Kiana Smith of Carlsbad 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in three hours and 49 minutes. Wygodzki is scheduled to play 17th-seeded Yilin Chen of San Diego on Friday at noon.
Chen, the only remaining local entrant in the Girls’ 16s singles draw, defeated 33rd-seeded Nikol Davletshina of Boca Raton, FL 6-2, 6-1.
“It’s really exciting to be in the semifinals. I’ve never been this far in a (16s) national, especially hard courts, so it’s really an honor. I didn’t have a lot of expectations, but I wanted to advance as far into the draw as possible. I wanted to win the first three rounds. It’s surreal going this far in this tournament,” said Chen, who lives in the San Diego community of Torrey Highlands.
Top seed Akasha Urhobo of Fort Lauderdale, FL, will go up against seventh-seeded Alyssa Ahn of San Diego. Second-seeded Julieta Pareja of Carlsbad will face 17th-seeded Janae Preston of Henderson, NV Fifth-seeded Alexis Nguyen of El Dorado Hills, CA, will take on 17th-seeded Tianmei Wang of San Marino, CA, and 17th-seeded Maya Iyengar of Paradise Valley, AZ will meet 17th-seeded Ava Rodriguez of Gainesville, GA.
Nearly 400 of the top junior tennis players in the country, aged 16 and 18 and under, are competing for the title of National Champion. In addition, wild cards for direct entry into the 2025 US Open will be awarded to the tournament’s top finishers.
