Only A Few Surprises Tuesday at Grass Courts

©Colette Lewis 2006
Philadelphia PA--

Tuesday's weather was perfect. It was warm in the sun, comfortable in the shade, the sky was blue and incapable of rain. There was the slightest of breezes and no humidity. It was easy to sit and watch tennis without complaint for hours on end, enjoying the muffled sound of the game on grass.

The boys lost five of their eight seeds in the first round, the girls three of eight, but after Tuesday's matches, each division now has only three seeds remaining in the final eight.


Tuesday's biggest surprise saw 14-year-old Brittany Augustine defeat second seed Lena Litvak 6-1, 4-6, 6-0, while another 14-year-old, Julia Boserup, also took out an older seeded opponent. In a match lasting 2 1/2 hours, Boserup prevailed over Kirsten Flower, the fifth seed, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. When Augustine and Boserup play (if I recall correctly, they play half the quarters one day and the remaining two the next), it will be the only girls quarterfinal without a seeded player. Fourth seed Gail Brodsky will play Olivia Janowicz, third seed Reka Zsilinkszka meets Michelle Larcher de Brito and top seed Lindsay Burdette faces Beatrice Capra.

The three boys' seeds still remaining--Rupesh Roy (1), Chris Racz (2) and Brad Cox (5) all advanced today in straight sets. In fact all eight of the boys matches took the minimum number of sets to decide. Roy's quarterfinal opponent will be Adam El Mihdawy; Racz takes on Austin Krajicek and Cox will face Houston Barrick. The boys also have one quarterfinal without a seed; in that, Devin Britton meets Brad Klahn.

The doubles began this afternoon, and produced the day's most entertaining match, when top seeds and defending champions Roy and Cox eked out a 7-6 (2), 5-7, 7-6 (5) win over Barrick and partner Ryan Lipman. Many of the points featured remarkable gets, and the dives and slides that grass encourages created some startling results. On one such point, Barrick actually fanned on an overhead, but Lipman dove for the ball and miraculously managed to hit a forehand winner while in midair.

Those watching the match were buzzing about the quality of tennis displayed, and several players remarked that it "should have been the final." Such is the luck of the draw when ITF novices (Barrick and Lipman) don't have the points to earn a seeding, but it was great tennis regardless of the round.