Darkness Delays Completion of First Round of Eddie Herr ITF Qualifying; USA Team Meets Russia Sunday for Master' U Title

©Colette Lewis 2013--
Bradenton, FL--

The first round of qualifying for the ITF Eddie Herr tournament fell two matches short of completion Saturday, with darkness descending on courts 1 and 2 of the IMG Bollettieri Academy's Har-Tru courts.

In the girls match, which had been moved from court 7, Mayka Aikawa of Japan led Claudia Cianci of Portugal 6-3, 4-4 when it was stopped at 5:40 p.m.  The boys match between Jake DeVine and alternate Sebastian Hawken of Norway, who received entry for No. 2 seed Alan Nunez Aguilera of Mexico, was in at 1-1 in the third set when it was stopped at around 5:30. There are no lights on the clay courts. Hawken had taken the first set 7-5, with DeVine taking the second 6-3. Both matches will resume at 8 a.m. on Sunday, but with two rounds of qualifying Sunday, a long day and a race against darkness could again face those two winners.

Girls top seed Nicole Frenkel posted a routine 6-1, 6-1 win over wild card Erisa Onchi of Japan, while boys No. 1 qualifying seed Ryotaro Matsumura of Japan defeated Stephen Watson 6-3, 6-4.  Matsumura broke Watson for a 5-3 lead, but was unable to serve out the match. Watson fell behind 0-40 in the next game, but saved the first match point with a drop shot winner. On the second, Matsumura hit a forehand wide. Watson again attempted a drop shot, a frequent strategy for him, especially on clay, but Matsumura was ready for it. He got to it, and ended the match with a deep volley winner two shots later.

Catalin Mateas ousted No. 3 seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, and Reilly Opelka defeated No. 8 seed Brandon Laubser of South Africa 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-1. No. 14 seed Tommy Paul was in serious trouble throughout his match with Andres Torres of Colombia, but he came back to post a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory.

The top four girls seeds made it through the first round, but No. 5 seed Lesedi Sheya Jacobs of Namibia was beaten by Rachel Chong 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, and No. 6 seed Ana Paula Neffa De Los Rios of Paraguay lost to Gabriela Knutson of the Czech Republic 7-6(5), 6-3.

Qualifying continued in the 12s, 14s, and 16s age divisions, with the eight qualifiers in each draw to be determined in Sunday's final round. See my post from Friday for the wild cards.

For the draws and the order of play for the 18s, see eddieherr.com.

At the Master' U BNP Paribas collegiate team event in France, the United States team of Mitchell Frank, Marcos Giron, Peter Kobelt, Robin Anderson, Lauren Herring and Sabrina Santamaria will play Russia in Sunday's final, after picking up 6-1 wins over Ireland and France in the first two matches. The US team is going for its third straight title. Boise State men's coach Greg Patton is blogging about the matches at usta.com.