Top Seeds Continue to Roll in Mobile
©Colette Lewis 2007
Mobile, AL--
The top four seeds in both the boys and girls divisions remain alive after Monday's second round at the USTA 18s Spring Championships at the Mobile Tennis Center. It was another perfect day, with a light jacket or warmup required in the morning, but by 10 a.m., there was no longer any need for any layers.
No. 1 seed Melanie Oudin was one of the first players out at 8 a.m., and I managed see her lose her first game of the tournament, but she had little difficulty beating Chelsea Davis 6-1, 6-0. I didn't see any of No. 2 seed Claire Bartlett, probably because her match was so quick. Her win over Natalie Collins was her second straight 6-0, 6-0 victory. No. 3 seed Asia Muhammad also dominated, beating Katie Kargl 6-1, 6-1 while Lauren Embree, the No. 4 seed cruised to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Alexandria Walters.
No. 6 seed Jacqueline Wu, who took a hard-fought first round win against Jennifer Yen Sunday, is out of the tournament, but it wasn't an opponent who caused the exit. Wu aggravated a wrist injury and withdrew before taking the court Tuesday. No. 5 seed Chelsea Preeg (who also has dropped only one game in two matches), No. 7 seed Keri Wong and No. 8 seed Carolyn McVeigh all captured straight-set wins to advance to the round of 32.
The girls' 18s Winter Champion Emily Gelber, a 17 seed, won't be winning back-to-back gold balls, as she fell to fellow Eastern section player Nadja Gilchrist 6-2, 6-2. Gilchrist was pounding the ball during the few games I watched, and Gelber wasn't able to counteract the pace that Gilchrist was generating.
Gilchrist is one of eight unseeded players to reach the round of 32 on the girls side, and in her quarter of the draw, the other two unseeded players are also from the Eastern section. Ryann Cutillo was the beneficiary of the Wu withdrawal, and Lindsay Clark upset No. 17 seed Kimberly Haynes.
The boys' top four seeds-- Reid Carleton (1), Jordan Rux (2), Ryan Lipman (3) and Nick Meister--advanced in straight sets, but No. 5 seed Bryant Salcedo was no match for Marc Powers of Connecticut. I saw only the last couple of games of Powers' 6-3, 6-2 win, but in them he made no errors, while Salcedo was hard pressed to keep the ball in play. Jared Pinsky, the No. 11 seed, was upset by John Lewis of Alabama 6-3, 6-3. Powers and Lewis are just two of the ten unseeded boys in the round of 32.
Tyler Davis, the No. 7 seed, is the boys' version of Oudin and Preeg, having dropped only one game in his first two matches.
The top four seeds in both girls and boys doubles also advanced to the third round. Stacey Lee was briefly without a partner when Wu withdrew, but Christina McHale was able to replace Wu because Lee and Wu were the third seeds and had a first round bye on Sunday. The new team easily defeated Katharine Blow and Caroline Capute 6-1, 6-2 Monday afternoon.
For complete draws, see the TennisLink site.
Also, the most recent Inside Junior Tennis podcast is now available here. Kevin McClure and I discuss serve-and-volley tennis, my trip to Boise and the latest college rankings.
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