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• Marco tennis clinics set
• Prep tennis: Lely's Embree appears in Sports Illustrated
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It is hard to imagine Marco’s Lauren Embree having a first in tennis, but she did over the weekend. She won her first Clay Court 18-and-under USTA National Championship in Memphis, Tenn.

Embree, seeded third, didn’t lose a set throughout the tourney. She knocked off one-seed Beatrice Capra in the finals, 6-4, 6-2.

Embree seemed destined to crack the 18-and-under title in a major as she finished second in this year’s USTA Spring Championships and the Easter Bowl Championships and runner-up to Missy Clayton in last year’s clay court finals.

Embree had trouble in the first set due to double faulting on serves. She had two double faults when leading 4-3 in games, giving up a break to Capra to tie the set at 4-4. But Embree’s pressure and solid defensive play led to Capra dropping the next game, double faulting on the last point.

Up 5-4, Embree took her serve to win the set.

Capra didn’t go away, breaking Embree and holding a 2-1 lead in the second set. She had three break points on Embree’s serve, but couldn’t capitalize. Instead of up 3-1, the set was tied at 2-2 and Capra imploded.

Capra only won scored two points in the next three games, falling behind 5-2. Tied at 30-30 on Embree’s serve, the Marco Islander hit a service winner and then angled a backhand shot to win the coveted trophy.

Embree has shown this year that she can win the big points by playing a strong defensive game, while improving her aggressiveness on offense.

“She was very consistent,” Capra said of Embree. “She always kept one more ball in play for me to hit and it was hard for me to keep up physically.”

Embree talks about her advancement in the tennis world and how she plans to increase her play in high-level matches, including international and professional events in Friday’s Marco Eagle.

Colette Lewis of Zoo Tennis contributed to the story