LaFrance stays course to victory

It started out like it was going to be a grind, but Little Rock's Katie LaFrance trains for such circumstances.

LaFrance and Sarah Brackin took 10 minutes to complete the first game of their third-round match Monday in the United States Tennis Association Southern Closed Boys and Girls 16s Championships at Rebsamen Park Tennis Center in Little Rock.

LaFrance won the match 6-3, 6-1, in 1 hour, 35 minutes, after a 55-minute first set.

"I could feel it," LaFrance said. "But I've been playing six hours a day for the last couple of weeks, so I was pretty much prepared for it."

"That first game was very long and very tiring," said Brackin, 16, of Murfreesboro, Tenn.

LaFrance, 15, of Little Rock, seeded fifth among girls, said she thought she and Brackin might be in for long match.

"It definitely was," she said. "I knew she was a very good player, fought every point, so I knew it was going to take a while."

Four coaches direct LaFrance, including Thomas Anderson and Oscar Johansson in Little Rock, Steve Bellamy in Los Angeles, and Jerry Albrikes in Charleston, S.C.

"Mostly they each work on everything with me, and I take the best aspects out of what they say and kind of put it in my own way," LaFrance said.

LaFrance's late paternal grandfather, Steve LaFrance, owned the pharmacy/convenience store chain USA Drug, which he sold in 2013 to Walgreen's for $438 million. As a consequence, at least in part, her parents, Stephen and Wendy LaFrance, are able to finance the development of her game. She regularly attends tennis academies in California and South Carolina and is clearly grateful for her opportunities.

"I'm very appreciative of my parents," LaFrance said. "It's not easy traveling every weekend to different parts of the world, so I'm very lucky to be able to do that."

LaFrance said her favorite shot is a backhand down the line, and she hit one as she served at 2-2 in the first set and soon after took control of the match.

"That changed things up in my favor," she said.

Whereas the first set took nearly an hour, LaFrance took less than half an hour to win the second and complete the match. She said she attempted to concentrate more on first serves after the first set.

"I think that's one of the factors that made the second set a little bit easier for me," she said.

LaFrance listed first among her long-term goals was a chance to play NCAA Division I tennis. She said she would "love" to play at Stanford, Pepperdine, UCLA or Arkansas. Her professional aspirations include at least thoughts of significant stages, though she said she knows to remain patient.

"Of course I would love to be out there playing Maria Sharapova, but that's going to be a few years," she said.

For the time being, LaFrance said she hopes to continue to advance through the field at Rebsamen.

"There are a lot of very good players here, but if I play best, I think I'll have chance," she said. "I'm very competitive, and I'm going to fight until I fall down every point. I want to prove that I can play the best that I can every single point."

Today in the round of 16, LaFrance will play Ana Sharvaugh of Wilmington, N.C. On Monday, Sharvaugh defeated Amanda Cyr of Cary, N.C., 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Boys and girls championship matches are scheduled for Friday.

Sports on 06/16/2015

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