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Lewisburg’s Casimir wins singles title

It didn’t take long to see what Lewisburg’s Carter Casimir was all about as he opened the semifinals of the District 4 Singles Championships on Monday.

Casimir arrived nearly an hour prior to the start of his semifinal match against No. 4 Dhruv Kotru of Danville. The rigorous warmup seemed to have little to no effect on Casimir, who opened with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Kotru. With the thoughts of last year’s runner-up finish, Casimir, who sat calmly on his phone throughout the other semifinal match, delivered a long-awaited District 4 championship.

Casimir defeated Central Columbia’s John Duncan in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-2, to win his first District 4 singles title.

“I’ve been thinking about this since the start of the season,” Casimir said. “It’s been my top goal.”

Casimir earned a trip to the finals with a convincing win. Once in the finals he took on Duncan, who defeated Mifflinburg’s Nolan Beck in his semifinal match. Duncan entered as the No. 2 seed. The expectations are always high when the top two seeds of the tournament meet, and both players delivered.

Casimir got his first serve over in most instances, which gave him a clear advantage. He pushed shots long when Duncan charged the net, and was able to use a soft touch to drop shots in front of the net.

The pair’s best volley came in the second set when Casimir earned his second point. He charged the net and popped a shot over Duncan’s head for the point.

“I was definitely nervous coming into the match,” Casimir said. “There was more pressure on me this year since I was the No. 1 seed. I knew I was going to have tough matches this year.”

Casimir fell to Duncan during last year’s team championships, but avenged that lost with his performance Monday.

“It gave me a goal,” Casimir said. “It motivated me a lot. I was really focused. I had a hard time concentrating in school. All I could think about were the matches.”

District 4 Tennis Singles Championships

Singles

No. 1 Carter Casimir (Lewisburg) def. No. 4 Dhruv Kotru (Danville), 6-0, 6-1; No. 2 John Duncan (Central Columbia) def. Nolan Beck (Mifflinburg), 6-1, 6-3.

Final

No. 1 Casimir (Lewisburg) def. No. 2 John Duncan (Central Columbia), 6-1, 6-2.

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