Carmel Valley’s Brandon Nakashima wins ITF Junior Masters title

Brandon Nakashima won the title at the International Tennis Federation’s (ITF) Junior Masters in Chengdu, China, taking down the world’s number one player Chun Hsin Tseng of Taiwan.

The 17-year-old Brandon came into Junior Masters ranked number 13 and left China having propelled to the fifth ranked junior in the ITF standings.

“I feel great. I’m so proud of the way I played today,” Brandon told ITF after winning the match on Oct. 28. “It’s been a long week, with a lot of great players and I’m so happy to come out on top. It’s definitely the highlight of my year.”

The victory capped off a season in which Brandon reached the quarterfinals in the Belgian International Junior Championships, the Roland Garros Junior French Championships in Paris, The Junior Championships in Wimbeldon in singles and doubles, and the US Open Junior Tennis Championships in New York.

In July, he won the Junior International Roehampton on the grass in Great Britain.

Brandon, who attends High Bluff Academy in Carmel Valley, was recently accepted to Stanford University. For four years, High Bluff Academy has helped Brandon with partial scholarships and special schedules so that he can play internationally and still take AP classes, earning a 4.2 GPA.