First Day of Spring Nationals Produces Few Upsets

©Colette Lewis 2008--
Mobile, AL--

It's unusual for a USTA National Championship to go by the book on the first day, but that's what happened today, when all of the top eight boys and top 16 girls seeds advanced to the second round, most of them with little trouble at the Spring 18s.

The 37 courts used at the recently expanded Mobile Tennis Center were brimming with action all day, and although the morning was chilly, with temperatures near 40 degrees at the 8:30 start time, the warm sun and very light breezes made for perfect conditions in a few short hours.

I caught several games of defending champion and No. 3 seed Brennan Boyajian's straight set win over California Alan Shin, and later on the same court 2007 finalist and No. 2 seed Dennis Nevolo also quickly dismissed Drake Kakar of Arizona. No. 5 seed Alex Domijan, who is now working with Pat Etcheberry at Saddlebrook, defeated John Kelly in straight sets, and top seed Bradley Klahn lost only three games in his win over Sidarth Balaji of Virginia.

Not all seeds had it quite so comfortable, however. No. 10 seed Joey Burkhardt, who spent the winter playing high school basketball, lost to Haig Schneiderman of New York 6-1, 6-2 and No. 15 seed Andrew Kells fell to Andrew Mellow of Missouri 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Of the alphabetical seeds (17-32), Sekou Bangoura Jr. lost in three sets to Jordan Dyke of Virginia 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3 and Steven Williams was beaten by Spencer Wolf of Florida in straight sets.

The girls seeds followed a similar pattern with Christina McHale (1), 2007 finalist Lauren Embree (2) and Keri Wong (3) losing four games between them.

But No. 4 Catherine Isip had her hands full with Elizabeth Kilborn of Georgia before pulling out a 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 win. Isip had difficulty getting the ball over the net during stretches of the match, and Kilborn matched her in power, but Isip eventually wore her down.

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The only girls seeds to lose on Sunday were alphabetical seeds. Maria Mira defeated Lindsey Hardenbergh, Jessica Harrow downed Kathryn Talbert, and Emily Wolf outlasted Kayla Duncan. Alexandra Lehman, also an alpha seed, did not take the court due to injury, so Alexandra Kelleher advanced to the second round.

The first round of doubles was played this afternoon, and there were a few upsets, but none of the top three seeded boys teams and four seeded girls teams were at risk since they had byes.

For complete draws, see the TennisLink site. Marcia Frost of collegeandjuniortennis.com is also here in Mobile and providing daily coverage.

You may have noticed that since I've been in Mobile, I've been unable to upload photos via blogger, so my only alternative is using the slide show program, which is not ideal, but better than nothing.