San Diego’s Alyssa Ahn wins Billie Jean King tourney, joins elite company

Every day she arrived at the Barnes Tennis Center, Alyssa Ahn took notice of the walls in the entryway listing past champions of the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s and 18s Nationals

Included were the likes of Chris Evert and Tracy Austin as winners at both age levels — and Ahn herself as the 16s champion.

Now Ahn, a San Diego native, has joined them.

Sunday’s dominating 6-1, 6-2 finals victory over Maya Iyengar of Paradise Valley, Ariz., put Ahn in elite company. She is just the seventh player in tournament history to win titles in both the 16s and 18s brackets.

“Seeing see all the names, it’s incredible,” said Ahn, 18, who prevailed on the courts where she trains. ”I recognize them, and they’re such cool people and really talented tennis players. It was so cool to see my name up there, too, from the 16s. I did want to add it again.”

The 5-foot-4 righthander, perhaps just an inch taller than three years ago, received a wild-card entry into this year’s tourney and drew the seventh seed in her final juniors event before heading to Stanford this fall.

“I think this (outcome) is just testament to all the hard work I’ve done throughout the years,” said Ahn, who reached the round of 32 last year. “This is just the pinnacle of it all.”

The triumph brings the reward of a wild-card berth in the main draw of this year’s U.S. Open with a first-round prize of $110,000.

“That’s a really great privilege,” Ahn said. “I’m going to try to make the most of the opportunity and just take it slow and enjoy every moment.”

Ahn opened against Iyengar by taking the first three games, losing just two points in the process.

There was little slowing Ahn down in the 65-minute match. Steady at the baseline and sharp with her shots, she also had nine service winners and two aces.

“I felt good out there,” said Ahn, who reached the round of 32 a year ago. “I didn’t put too much pressure on myself, and that helped.”

The 17th-seeded Iyengar, 18, came off a semifinal victory over Carlsbad’s Julieta Pareja, the world’s top-ranked junior girl, in her third straight three-set match.

“I was really tired,” Iyengar said. “Physically, it was really tough for me to even serve or do anything offensively. I was trying to play aggressive; that’s my game. But I was missing way too much.”

Ahn became the first player to win both age titles since current pro Lauren Davis, who won the 16s in 2008 and the 18s in 2011. Ahn’s 18s title was the first for a San Diego player since 1960, when future Wimbledon champion Karen (Hantze) Sussman won for the third time.

Ahn ousted top-seeded Akarsha Urbodo in the semis, winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Then she endured in a semifinal win over  Alexis Nguyen, 6-1, 6-7(1), 7-5.