Eight Americans in 12s Quarterfinals at Eddie Herr; Top 18s Seed Bouchard Retires with Injury

©Colette Lewis 2011--
Bradenton, FL--

Monday's rain ended overnight, leaving in its wake a cool breeze and sunny skies for the over 100 postponed matches at the Eddie Herr International. The 12s division kept on schedule however, thanks to the three indoor courts available for play on Monday, so at 8 a.m. Tuesday, the 16 remaining matches were sent out to determine the quarterfinalists.

The United States had notable success with four boys and four girls advancing to the quarterfinals. Top seed Alex del Corral, No. 4 seed Patrick Kypson, No. 12 seed Noah Makarome and Vasil Kirkov all recorded straight set victories, and on Wednesday, del Corral and Kirkov will face each other with a semifinal spot on the line. Makarome plays No. 2 seed Artem Dubrivny of Russia, and Kypson takes on No. 11 seed Tomas Etcheverry of Argentina. The fourth match will feature No. 3 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia against unseeded Dmitriy Voronin of Russia.

The girls 12s quarterfinals have two all-American matches with unseeded Dominique Schaefer against No. 10 seed Abigail Desiatnikov and unseeded Jaeda Daniel against No. 8 seed Nicole Conard. Desiatnikov, who is just 10 years old and could pass for eight, had the only three-set match, beating No. 6 seed Avital Vulf of Israel 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. But the other American wins, although straight sets, were tough battles, although the only technical upset was Daniel's 6-4, 6-3 victory over No. 2 seed Kim Soomin of Korea.

In the other two 12s quarterfinals, unseeded Eunse Jang of Korea will face No. 9 seed Katherine Sebov of Canada, and No. 7 seed Sofya Zhuk of Russia will play No. 14 seed Inci Ogut of Turkey.

Once the 12s matches were complete, I shifted my attention to the 18s division, or rather half of it, as matches played at the Academy Park courts were too far away to monitor.

The big news of the day was top seed Eugenie Bouchard's retirement, when she was leading 4-3 in the first set Alejandra Cisneros of Mexico. The 17-year-old Canadian, who lost in the final of the Yucatan Cup Saturday night, suffered an abdominal strain, but said afterwards that she would wait before deciding about her participation in the Orange Bowl next week.



No. 2 seed and 2010 finalist Yulia Putintseva is now the favorite for the title, and she collected a 6-2, 6-2 victory over American Catherine Harrison in her first round match. It was a good day for American qualifiers, as Mia King, Kendall Woodard and Breaunna Addison all won their opening matches. King came back to down wild card Liz Jeukeng of the US 0-6, 6-4, 6-1 and Addison beat Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic 7-5(5), 6-1. Woodard's win over No. 7 seed Ellen Allgurin of Sweden was the biggest struggle of the three, with the future Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket taking it 6-7(7), 7-5, 6-4.

Wild card Danielle Collins came back from a set and a break down to beat 14-year-old Les Petits As winner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Other US girls posting wins were Kyle McPhillips, Kelsey Laurente, Allie Kiick and Taylor Townsend, the No. 15 seed. Krista Hardebeck had withdrawn from the tournament last week, but there was a mixup and it wasn't recorded, so a lucky loser was inserted in her place. Gabby Andrews also did not make the trip, and she had left the Yucatan tournament without playing the doubles final due to illness. There is another American still playing her first round match, with Christina Makarova's contest with No. 12 seed Elizaveta Kulichkova suspended due to darkness after the two had split sets. There is a boys 18s match incomplete as well, with Johan Skattum of Norway leading No. 15 seed Stefan Vinti of Romania 2-0 in the third set.

Top boys seed Dominic Thiem of Austria, fresh from defending his Yucatan Cup title, took a step toward defending his Eddie Herr title, beating Connor Farren of the US 6-2, 6-3. No. 2 seed Liam Broady of Great Britain defeated Markos Kalovelonis of Greece 6-1, 6-4.

Americans Mitchell Krueger(4), Alexios Halebian(13), Trey Strobel, Spencer Papa and Thai Kwiatkowski advanced to the second round. Qualifier Harrison Richmond of the US served for the match against wild card Naoki Nakagawa of Japan but wasn't able to close out the 15-year-old Bollettieri student and fell 6-3, 0-6, 7-6(4).

The only upsets in the boys draw saw Yucatan finalist and No. 7 seed Kyle Edmund of Great Britain lose to qualifier Vasco Mensurado of Portugal 7-6(3), 6-1 and No. 10 seed Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium go out to Kevin Kaczynski of Germany 6-3, 6-1.

For complete 18s results, see the ITF junior website.

The 14s and 16s division got underway today, and the last match wasn't finished until after 9:30 p.m. Unseeded Americans Caroline Doyle and Alyssa Smith beat the No. 4 and No. 8 seeds respectively in the first round of the girls 16s. For complete results in those two age groups, see the Tennis Information website.