Second Seed Gullickson Upset in Easter Bowl First Round

©Colette Lewis 2006
Palm Springs CA--

The first day of the ITF Easter Bowl saw second seed and International Spring finalist Chelsey Gullickson make an early exit, dropping a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 decision to Logan Hansen.

Hansen, the 2004 Easter Bowl 16s winner, has suffered several serious injuries since that victory and is only now beginning to return to tournament level tennis. Having to rely on wild cards and qualifying to play ITF events, Hansen knows it is likely she'll face tough draws, but she sees a positive in that.

"It's really fun for me to play these girls who play all over the world," said the sixteen-year-old from Santa Monica. "I didn't have high expectations, which I thinked helped me."

After dropping the first set, Hansen changed tactics, realizing that disrupting Gullickson's baseline precision was essential to her chances.

"I tried to change it up," Hansen said, "I began mixing it up, so she couldn't get a rhythm. And my serve started working more, that helped."

Hansen recognized that Gullickson was facing a special challenge given her excellent performance in last week's ITF Grade 1 in Carson.

"I think she was tired," Hansen said. "It's not easy to be a top seed--I know the feeling--you have all the pressure, and she had the pressure to live up to her results of last week."

Another player who pulled off an upset on Tuesday, Spencer Vegosen, had no pressure to live up to recent results, because he hadn’t had any.

Vegosen, 18, last played a tournament match in Kalamazoo in August of 2005 and like Hansen he felt little pressure going into his match with 15th seed Viju George. He too dropped the first set but captured the victory, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

A serious injury kept him off the courts during the fall and winter and he used his body’s healing time to finish high school early and experience life as a normal teenager.

"I don’t think I would have taken it too hard," he said of the prospect of losing, "since I hadn’t played a competitive match in, let’s see," and he began counting off, "eight months."

"Nothing can really prepare you for a match and the last time I played him he didn’t come in at all," Vegosen said.

George has developed a net-rushing game but Vegosen found his backhanded passing shots when he needed them, although he admitted to being a little tired at the end, he wasn't complaining.

"I remember why I do this," said the Chicagoan, who will enter Harvard this fall. "When you're just a few points from winning, the feeling is addictive."

There were only two other upsets in the boys 18s, as Jason McNaughton defeated 16th seed Brad Cox 6-2, 6-4 and fifteen-year-old Rhyne Williams upended eighth seed Jason Jung by the same score.

Gullickson wasn't the only high seed to fall in the girls 18s. Lena Litvak, the fourth seed, retired in her match with Kirsten Flower down 6-2 4-0; Jamie Hampton eliminated seventh seed Kristy McVitty 7-5, 7-5 and McCall Jones battled past ninth seed Missy Clayton 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

The boys 16s also began Tuesday, and there were only two upsets. With his win in the 16s at Carson, Kyle McMorrow really can't be cast in the role of underdog, but he is unseeded this week, so, at least technically, his 6-0 6-1 win over 15th seed Marc Powers qualifies as an upset.

Frank Carleton's victory over tenth seed Eric Spector was much closer, but the 2005 Junior Orange Bowl 14s backdraw winner shouldn't be sneaking up on anyone. Carleton won the first set 6-3, lost the second 0-6, and barely survived in the third when he saved to match points serving at 4-5 before taking the final set tiebreak 7-2.

"I kind of fell apart and lost my game," said the former Middle States player, who has recently moved to Naples Florida. "but I got it back in time. On one of the match points I was kind of lucky--I had a backhand winner that hit both lines."

The girls and boys 14s begin Wednesday, as does the girls 16s.

The ITF event results and draws can be found here, the boys 16s event here, and the girls 16s & 14s and the boys 14s here.