In fact, the two 12-year-old tennis players completed an outstanding 2003 in both singles and doubles competition, finishing the year ranked among the best players in Northern California.

DeBruycker and Davis are two of a half dozen players who train with coach Michael Jessup at the Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club who finished the '03 year with outstanding tennis credentials. Lejla Hodzic of Cupertino, A.J. Kerin and Vidya Dabir of Saratoga and Kareem Berdai of San Jose were four other players who starred under the direction of Jessup, a former tennis sensation at Saratoga High School.

DeBruycker and Davis finished the year ranked No. 1 in Northern California in girls 12 doubles. The two teamed for a title at the Blackhawk Super Series, one of five doubles championships for the pair in 2003.

DeBruycker, a student at Miller Junior High School, finished first in singles play at Blackhawk, upsetting No. 1 seed Michelle Lam 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals. She beat her doubles teammate, Davis, 6-4, 6-3 in the finals to take the title. Davis had upset No. 2-ranked Kelly Lamble of Saratoga 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4 in the semifinals.

DeBruycker, whose 2004 goal is to be in the top 10 in the nation in girls 12 competition, won the National Open in Tucson, Ariz., winning 6-1, 6-1 in the finals. She dropped only 10 points in the tournament.

The Saratoga 12-year-old is ranked No. 4 in Northern California and No. 42 in the nation as a girls 12 division player.

Davis, meanwhile, is No. 3 in the NorCal rankings and No. 55 in the nation in the age division. Davis, who attends Apostles Lutheran School, was the runner-up in singles play in two tournaments this past year, according to Jessup, and also teamed with her 8-year-old sister, Kennedy, to win a girls 12 doubles title in a tournament in Sacramento last fall.

Hodzic, 17, was another Los Gatos Swim and Racquet Club player to have a sensational 2003. The Pinewood High School senior is ranked No. 9 nationally and recently defeated the No. 250-ranked professional player in the world. At the Alabama $50,000 Challenger tournament, she won two rounds in qualifying, beating the No. 295-ranked pro, Salome Devidze, 6-1, 6-3.

Hodzic, who has accepted a full tennis scholarship to Stanford, was invited to compete in the Orange Bowl International tournament in Florida in December. Her goal for 2004, says Jessup, is to "win the girls 18 nationals, therefore earning the wild-cart into the U.S. Open."

Kerin, 18, was the No. 1 player at Saratoga High School last spring recently reached the finals of the UC Santa Cruz men's open, the first junior to ever reach that level. He also made it to the quarterfinals in singles play and the finals in doubles at the National Open in Whittier.

Dabir, 14, played for the Monta Vista High School girls tennis team that won league, Central Coast Section and Northern California titles this past fall. She is ranked No. 7 in girls 14 play and won a singles crown in 2003.

Berdai, 16, was a champion at the Blackhawk Super Series in boys 16 play this year. The Pioneer High School student, ranked No. 2 in NorCal and No. 21 in the nation, won five singles championships in 2003.