Bellamy Wins Doubles Title in Carson

has enjoyed plenty of big wins in his tennis career, but perhaps none have been as big as Saturday's victory in the boys' 16s doubles final at the USTA International Spring Championships at Home Depot Center in Carson.

The sophomore and partner Gregory Garcia of Poway upset top-seeded Joseph DiGiulio of Newport Beach and Spencer Papa of Edmond, Oklahoma, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 11-9 for their first Grade 1 tournament win. They had played only one previous match together, losing in the first round of the National Opens in Lakewood in February when they were seeded No. 1.

"This is the coolest one I've ever won," said Bellamy, who helped Palihi to the City Section championship as a freshman last spring. "It's my first Level 1 final, so I'm pretty excited to win it."

Seeded No. 7 out of 28 teams going into the tournament, Bellamy and Garcia won their first three matches in straight sets before pulling out an 11-9 third-set super tiebreaker win in Friday's semifinal against unseeded Stefan Doehler and Tyler Lu--a match that was every bit as tough as the final.

"That match might have been even tougher," Garcia said of the duo's semifinal victory. "This team didn't seem like a No. 1 seed. I was surprised we won."

Garcia had been nursing a left-foot injury all week, but it didn't slow him down enough to keep he and Bellamy from breaking serve in the sixth game of the first set Saturday. They went on to win it, then dropped the second-set tiebreaker 7-4 to force a decisive super tiebreaker.

"You don't have time to get down because you have to start another [tiebreaker] right away," Bellamy said. "If you get down, it's over."

Bellamy and Garcia raced to a 6-2 lead, but the top-seeded tandem reeled off five straight points to go ahead 8-7. Bellamy hit a forehand winner to level the score 8-8, Garcia hit an overhead to tie it again at 9-9 and they took a 10-9 nine lead on a volley error. Papa netted a backhand on the next point to give the underdogs an improbable victory.

"We were just trying to play every point like it was the last," Garcia said. 

Ironically, back in December, Bellamy had teamed with Irvine's Gage Brymer to defeat Garcia and Garrett Auproux of Studio City in the 16s doubles final at the USTA Nationals in Orange County. This time, the Palisadian was happy to have Garcia on his side of the net. 

"He played great and come up huge on some big points," Bellamy said. "Greg is a great player and hit some big shots. We we did much better than we did the last time."