Collin AltamiranoKALAMAZOO, MI — Collin Altamirano couldn’t stop grinning as he posed for photos, made a speech and accepted his place in USTA Boys 18 National Championship history.
By defeating Jared Donaldson, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, in the best of five boys 18s finals match, Altamirano became the first unseeded player in the tournament’s 71 years in Kalamazoo to win a singles title.
The old record belonged to unseeded Cecil Mamiit, who made it to the boys 18s final before losing to eighth-seeded Paul Goldstein in 1993.
“I’ve gotta root for all the seeds now,” Altamirano said with a wink and a laugh.
More importantly for the player from Yuba City, Calif., he wins a wild card into the main draw of the U.S. Open.
“I don’t care (who I play), I’m just happy to be there,” he said as the song “New York, New York” blared across the courts at Kalamazoo College’s Stowe Stadium.
While Altamirano was serving for the match at 5-4, the wild card “crossed my mind,” he said. “I started laughing. I was like, ‘All right, let’s not choke this, Collin.’ I remember I missed that backhand into the net and I was like, ‘Not a good start.’
“Thankfully, I had a couple free points in there. I know this tournament is tough and to win it is huge.”
Jared DonaldsonDonaldson, the 14th seed from Cumberland, R.I., struggled with his service and didn’t hold until the third game of the second set. He held only four times in the match, three of them in the third set.
“My serve has always been something that’s been a little streaky,” he said. “I think this match just showed what I needed to work on. I didn’t make that extra ball or win those few key points that I had earlier in the week.”
Altamirano said he also struggled at times while serving.
“I wasn’t serving very well,” he said. “He was very aggressive on the returns, so I knew he was going to break me, but I knew I could break him, so I wasn’t too worried about it.
“I knew he wasn’t holding. It made me feel I was going to be ahead in every set no matter what. When I know I’m gonna be ahead in a set or I have an advantage, I have a lot of confidence.”
Altamirano was broken only three times in the match, his first service of each set.
Donaldson was understandably disappointed in the loss.
“It’s a good tournament,” he said, “I had some good wins but it’s kinda like second place is bittersweet. You have good wins, but you’re basically the first loser. That’s kinda how I think I’ll look back on it. Tough final. He played well.
“You come to tournaments to win, you don’t come to tournaments to say you had a good tournament or you had good wins or to say you have second place. ... Now if someone told me back in February when I thought I was done with tennis, or taking a break, if you could take second in Kalamazoo, would you? Of course I’d say yes. But now that you’re here, you always want more.”
Both Altamirano and Donaldson are eligible to return to Kalamazoo next August, although Altamirano probably won’t be flying under the seeding radar next year.