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More Tennis

• Local tennis: Naples' Witten loses first-round match in U.S. Open qualifying
• Local tennis: Marco's Embree eliminated in consolation round at USTA Girls 18s National Championship
• Local tennis: Marco's Embree wins two consolation matches at USTA Girls 18s National Championship

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On a beautiful sunny day young Marco Island tennis players shined brightly in the USTA Junior Tennis Tournament at the Marco Island Racquet Center on Saturday.

Marco Islanders Alexa Campisi and Peter Servente, both 12, won their 12-and-under brackets.

“The tournament was to gain points toward USTA Junior rankings,” Bill Van Glabek, racquet center supervisor said. “Some maybe played in a tournament, but were not experienced. No one was below a USTA 200 ranking. This was not for the Lauren Embrees of the world,” he said of Marco’s nationally-ranked teen. Overall, 26 kids competed, coming from Weston to Cape Coral.

Besides gaining USTA Junior points, the tourney will help kids play in future tournaments for seeding purposes, Van Glabek said. It may mean that they will be given more consideration because of their points.

“Alexa Campisi played very strong,” Van Glabek said. “She had nice, strong ground strokes, kind of overpowering other kids in her draw.”

Servente ran into some tough competition in his draw.

“The competition was very close, with Peter winning some tiebreakers,” Van Glabek said. “There were some very close matches, but Peter prevailed.”

Servente topped Andrew Goodrich of Marco Island, 6-4, 6-3 in the title match.

In Campisi’s round robin bracket, Dovile Gucmeris of Cape Coral came in second and Molly McCurdy of Naples was third.

In the Boys 14-and-under bracket, Mark Andre Rameau of Naples edged Jordan McBean of Fort Meyers for the title, 7-6, 6-4. In the Boys 10-and-under, Bradley Pinosky, topped Justin Pham, 6-0, 6-0. In the Girls 10-and-under round robin Eliza Georgiades of Palmetto Bay came in first, followed by Alissa Mayo of Naples and Lindsey Bonco of Naples.