By DAVID CAMPBELL

Eagle Staff Writer

While many of the tennis players at the Texas Summer Grand Slam battled the swirling wind, Frankie Colunga decided to make it his ally.

Creative shot-making combined with the knockout punch of a consistent cross-court forehand allowed Colunga to breeze to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Dallas' Antone Hill in 14 boys singles action at Texas A&M's Intramural Courts on Saturday.

"With the wind, I was putting a lot more spin on the shots, so that it would kick up to his backhand," said Colunga of topspin shots he put near the baseline. "When I would hit it, it would just bounce high."

Hill ran down several tough shots early and won a volley flurry with a shot that dropped over Colunga's head, but he was unable to pressure Colunga on a regular basis. Colunga's plan was to attack when the opportunity arose, and it worked.

"When he would hit his second serve, I would go in and attack his backhand," Colunga said. "If I saw a ball where I could attack, I would."

The match was delayed 1 hour, 20 minutes from its scheduled time because of a brief thundershower. The delay forced officials to have players use a 10-point tiebreaker for their third sets.

The 13-year-old Colunga, who attends College Station Middle School, never came close to needing it.

"I've been working on consistency and power, and my second serve has improved a lot," said Colunga, who won his first two matches at the Grand Slam in 12 singles last year. "Basically, my whole game has gotten better over last year's."

Colunga will now meet ninth-seeded Grant Murray in the round of 16 at 11 a.m. Sunday at A&M's Mitchell Tennis Center. Murray beat Southlake's Jacob Brisky 6-1, 6-2 to advance.

Brazos Christian's Nellie Hillner opened a three-match day with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Houston's Kate Davis in girls 16 singles. She lost her second-round match to ninth-seeded Crystal Leung of Houston 6-3, 6-2.

Hillner and her doubles partner, Ari Saldana of Cedar Park, outlasted Christina Goswami and Jayme Kravitz of Plano 8-6 in a late match. Hillner and Saldana return to girls 16 doubles play Monday when they face McAllen's Arantxa Herandez and Arlington's Marcelli Magday.

Saldana lost her morning singles match to Austin's Rachel Cole 4-6 6-2, 6-3.

Kayla Casey battled through a tight first set but ripped repeated baseline shots to keep San Antonio's Carley Karam on her heels and took a 6-4, 6-0 opening-match win in girls 14 singles at Bryan High School.

Casey, who will be a ninth-grader at Franklin High School in the fall, allowed Karam few chances in the second set.

"She was playing really good in the first set, but I guess she got tired," Casey said. "We were both getting pretty tired."

Ninth-seeded Kristen Mee bumped Casey into the consolation round with a 6-4, 6-1 win, and Casey also dropped her doubles match. She and College Station's Kristina Raphael fell to Forth Worth's Laura Jacobi and Tatum Nowlin, 8-6.

A pair of area players lost split-set singles matches. At Pebble Creek Country Club, San Antonio's Joanie Bryant defeated College Station's Kristina Raphael, 2-6, 7-6 (6-3), 6-2 in 14 singles. Bryant was unable to bounce back from the long match, losing in the second round to ninth-seeded Makenzie Craft of Frisco, 6-0, 6-0.

Dallas' Emily Zogg defeated Kayla Casey's sister, Carrie, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in 12 singles play at Jane Long Middle School. Zogg earned a shot against top-seeded Peggy Porter of Dallas but lost 6-0, 6-1.

Boys and girls 18 doubles play begins at 4 p.m. Sunday with 18 singles starting at 8 a.m. Monday.

• David Campbell's e-mail address is david.campbell@theeagle.com.