Sunshine Plentiful, Upsets Few in First Round of 18s Spring Nationals
©Colette Lewis 2010--
Mobile, AL--
The seeded players who have been competing indoors for the past three or four months had to contend with gusty winds and their first sunburns of the season, but most adjusted well enough to advance to Monday's second round at the USTA 18s Spring National Championships.
A chilly morning and one less hour of sleep also were hurdles to overcome for those participating in the 40 singles matches scheduled for 8:30 a.m., but they did have the advantage of less wind, which didn't pick up until mid-morning.
Top seed Gonzales Austin of Miami was on the court early, and the left-hander won quite a few of his points with volleys at the net in his 6-1, 6-4 win over Matthew Dooley. Second seed Blake Bazarnik of Illinois was one of the last singles matches of the day, and he had to withstand an opening set blitz by Ethan Kallick of Pittsburgh to record his 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory. Bazarnik got up early in the second set, but was broken serving at 4-2. Kallick lost his serve in the next game however, and he was unable to rattle Bazarnik, who didn't press and didn't express any frustration with the conditions or his level of play.
The only top four seed in either division to lose was boys No. 4 Jamin Ball, who was unable to continue due to breathing difficulties in his match with Mitchell Polnet. Polnet was leading 6-2, 1-0 when Ball retired, and Ball also dropped out of the doubles competition. No. 12 seed Jackson Withrow lost to Nick Papac, who will be attending his hometown school Fresno State, 7-5, 7-6(5). Three alphabetically seeded (17) lost in the first round, Justin Rossi, Dan Richardson and Daniil Mamalat. They were beaten by Hunter Callahan, Daniel Ho and Spencer Newman respectively. I had hoped to see the Mamalat-Newman match, but the 6-0, 6-1 score conveys quite clearly why I missed it.
The girls top seed, who is, with Ellen Tsay's withdrawal due to injury, No. 2 Lilly Kimbell, served very well in her 6-1, 6-3 win over Kaitlin Ray. Kimbell also found some acute angles, which kept Ray, who covers the court side to side very well, from getting into a baseline rhythm. Third seed Danielle Collins dropped only one game in her win over Ashley Tiefel.
Megan Kurey defeated No. 16 seed Jennifer Kellner 6-4, 6-2, and three alphabetical seeds also lost, all in straight sets: Julia Jones to Theresa Smith, Christina Harazin to Laura Wiley and Rachel Stuhlmann to Julia Jamieson.
For complete results, including those of the first round doubles matches played this afternoon, see the TennisLink site.
Dave "Koz" Kozlowski was busy doing interviews of many players today for his first daily show on the Spring Nationals for Inside Tennis with the Koz at indietennis.com.
Among the players Koz spoke with were Kimbell, Papac. Catherine Harrison and Sarah Dalton.
The link to Sunday's show is here.
2 comments:
For those of us from Florida, the Julia Jones loss is a shocker, especially since Smith didn't fare very well in Florida recently when she played a super series, and Jones had just beaten Sanon in the girls 18s sectional on Monday.
Hi Colette,
Does the USTA have any rules about players who are caught using performance-enhancing drugs?
Even if there is no testing, what if a player confesses to using them and everyone, including the USTA, knows?
Post a Comment