Unseeded Noel wins Girls’ 14 division title at Jr. OB Tennis Championship

Champions were crowned on Tuesday at the Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship as the week long event came to a close.

Alexa Noel of Summit, New Jersey, entered the tournament as an unseeded player and leaves as the winner of the Girls’ 14 division.

Her consistent and solid play — with the ability to control and harness her emotions — shined bright throughout the week and was on display during her nearly two hour and 45 minutes finals match.

Noel defeated No. 3 seed Qinwen Zheng of China 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 to finish off her incredible week in Miami.

“This means a lot,” Noel said.”I’ve never really done well here so I had a little bit more motivation. I went match by match, rather than worrying about things that I can’t control.”

In the Girls’ 12 final, American No. 2 seed Cori Gauff completed a phenomenal week with a straight-set victory over fellow American and fourth seed Katrina Scott. The spark-plug Scott pushed Gauff about as hard as she had been tested this week, but Gauff took the title with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) victory.

“It means everything,” Gauff said. “This is my third time competing and I’m glad I was finally able to win it. It was one of my goals I had for the year.”

The Boys’ 12 division title was quite the battle between Raleigh, North Carolina, native Victor Lilov and Fort Lauderdale product Bruno Kuzuhara. Lilov dropped the first set 0-6 before storming back and winning the next two 6-2, 6-4.

In the Boys’ 14 division, No. 1 seed Buyun Chaokete of China followed his heroic performance from Monday’s semifinal to take home the ultimate prize.

Chaokete beat American Alex Lee 6-4, 6-4 to capture the championship in his division. It was the only finals matchup between two top seeds, and Chaokete was the only No. 1 seed to win their respective division.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Unseeded Noel wins Girls’ 14 division title at Jr. OB Tennis Championship."