NorCal's Leustian, 14, wins prestigious Les Petits As

Stefan Leustian plays in the NorCal Junior
Excellence tournament in Sacramento last April.
Photo by Paul Bauman

   Eighth-seeded Stefan Leustian routed fourth-seeded Borna Devald of Croatia 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday to win the prestigious Les Petits As title in Tarbes, France.
   Leustian, a 14-year-old resident of Mather in the Sacramento area, had reached the quarterfinals of the Nike International Tennis Tennis tournament the previous week in Bolton, England.
   Leustian also advanced to the boys 14 final in the USTA National Winter Championships in Tucson, Ariz., in late December and early January. Seeded No. 1, he lost to No. 10 Ryder Jackson of Nicasio 7-5, 3-6, 6-2.
   Devald won the Junior Orange Bowl 12s in 2014.
   Past winners of Les Petits As (Small Champions), for 12- and 14-year-olds, include Rafael Nadal, Michael Chang, Martina Hingis and Kim Clijsters.
   Third-seeded Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine won the girls title, dominating sixth-seeded Denisa Hindova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-1.
   It was Kostyuk's third major international 14s title in the past two months. She won the Eddie Herr International Championship in Bradenton, Fla., and the Junior Orange Bowl in Coral Gables, Fla., in December.