Preeg, Simidian crowned tennis champs

FORT MYERS — They came from far away, some of the players. Twenty states were represented, plus Canada and Puerto Rico.

The total head count: 430 teenagers, each looking for top-notch competition.

And they found it.

Judging by the performance of the local contingent Thursday at the Bush Florida Open tournament, this must be the breeding ground for junior tennis.

Like football.

Naples players Amy Simidian and Chelsea Preeg each carried plaques from The Landings in south Fort Myers, making the short trek home as champions of the annual talent show.

Each did it with resiliency.

Simidian won the 16s final to end a grueling three-day finish. Her 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 victory over Plantation’s Bianca Sanon was Simidian’s third consecutive endurance test, coming on the heels of wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals that offered equal resistance.

Preeg, meanwhile, needed a rally. She fell behind Keilly Ulery, her doubles partner for last year’s tournament, but finished with a bang, nipping the Wellington player, 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2).

“Naples has a lot of strong juniors,” said Terry See, the club’s head tennis pro. “The program there is tremendous. You’re in the hotbed of tennis. It’s not unusual for local kids to make it this far.”

The boys, too, can bring it.

Barron Collier standout Erik Corace, who won the 16s championship last year, is one step closer to another title, this time in the 18s. He beat Weston’s Brennan Boyajian, 7-5, 6-3, in the semifinals to set up a showdown with Tampa’s Jeff Dadamo, who takes the court opposite Corace at noon today.

There is but one missing piece. When Spencer Wolf of Coral Springs and Neil Clausen of Longboat Key play for the 16s title at 10 a.m. today, it will eliminate the city’s chance to hit for the cycle, with Naples represented in each of the other three singles matches.

Don’t blame the girls.

Simidian and Preeg had much in common Thursday, even more than their shared area code. Each player focused more on herself than the opponent — which, in Preeg’s case, couldn’t have been easy.

Preeg and Ulery, friends since childhood, might have been doubles partners again this year, but Chelsea chose instead to team with her sister, Jessica, in the latter Preeg’s farewell junior tournament. Jessica will play for Virginia this fall.

Regardless, Ulery’s game is no stranger to the Seacrest student. So Preeg used some inside strategy — she pinned Ulery on the baseline to take away her angles — working around Ulery’s strengths like a pitcher with a scouting report.

Ultimately, though, Preeg worried about herself. She used her trademark calm as Ulery moved ahead in the count, never once indicating that the deficit would consume her.

“I just told myself to stay in there,” said Preeg, a quiet, determined 16-year-old who rarely so much as grunts.

The same cannot be said for Simidian. She and Sanon were fun to watch — each junior was as hard on herself as she was the opponent — especially since Thursday’s match marked their first time on opposite ends of the court.

That made a scouting report impossible, so Simidian simply played her own game. The 15-year-old home-schooler blistered balls into tight spots, surviving the brutal three-day stretch to avenge last year’s loss in the 16s final.

“You just focus on your strengths as much as you can,” said Simidian, who moved from Sarasota four years ago, believing the relocation would help make her a better player.

Evidently, she came to the right place.