Dream fulfilled: No. 17 seed wins Billie Jean King Girls title

Every day for about two months ahead of the USTA Billie Jean King Girls 16s National Championships, 14-year-old Hannah Ayrault would write in a notebook: “I’m going to win the U.S. (nationals), I’m going to win …”

And so it came to be at the Barnes Center on Saturday.

The 17th-seeded Ayrault, who is moving to Boca Raton, Fla., from Atlanta, completed a storybook run with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 4 Paige Wygodski, of Huntington, N.Y.

“This was my biggest goal,” Ayrault said. “I did so well because every day I went on court and I trained the hardest I possibly could.”

San Diego’s Alyssa Ahn, who won the 16s three years ago, will go for the 18s title in the final at 1 p.m. Sunday against Maya Iyengar, of Paradise Valley, Ariz.

The seventh-seeded Ahn topped No. 5 Alexis Nguyen, of El Dorado Hills, 6-1, 6-7(1), 7-5  in the semifinals, while the 17th-seeded Iyengar prevented an all-local final with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3) victory over Carlsbad’s Julieta Pareja, the world’s top-ranked junior girl.

In her two matches before the finals, Ayrault ousted top-seeded Carlota Moreno, of Knoxville, Tenn., 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 and then won another three-set match.

Yet another third set loomed before Ayrault rebounded from a 4-1 second-set deficit to win the final five games and prevail for the second time in two career meetings against Wygodski.

“I got a little bit unfocused in the second set (the other times) and lost,” said Ayrault, also seeded 17th last year when she lost in the third round. “I told myself that I was going to fight as hard as I possibly could to win this set.”

The response didn’t surprise Wygodski, 16, who reached the final with a 6-1, 7-6 (5) semifinal win over San Diego’s Yilin Chen, also seeded 17th.

“It gives Hannah motivation when she’s down,” Wygodski said. “I knew that coming into the match, but I just had a breakdown on some of my shots, and she was able to capitalize.”

Ahn came off a quarterfinal victory over No. 1 Akarsha Urbodo, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla,. 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

“Getting to the finals means a lot, especially here at home,” said Ahn, 18, who reached the round of 16 last year.

“My game’s at its peak. The farther I’ve gone, the better my tennis.”

Nguyen lost the last three games while battling left-leg tightness.

Pareja looked on the way to victory with a 3-0 edge in the second set, but she dropped 11 of the next 12 games.

Then down 5-0 in the third set, she survived two match points to force a tiebreaker.

Iyengar also beat Pareja in the quarterfinals of an ITF tourney a year ago at the Barnes Center on the way to final.

Pareja became No. 1 in the ITF rankings after playing in this year’s Wimbledon Juniors final.