Kypson Upsets Top Seed Blanch in Second Round of International Spring Championships, Anisimova Survives in Three Sets, Chi Beats McKenzie

©Colette Lewis 2016--
Carson, CA--

Both No. 1 seeds in the ITF Grade 1 International Spring Championships were pushed to three sets in Wednesday's second round, but only one survived. Amanda Anisimova fought back to post a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over unseeded Jessica Livianu, but Ulises Blanch dropped the final four games to Patrick Kypson to suffer a 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss.

Serving at 2-4 in the final set, Kypson had to save two break points to keep Blanch from serving for the match.  In the next game, Kypson earned two break points with his backhand doing most of the damage. Blanch saved one break point with an ace, but failed to get a first serve in on the second break point and Kypson took advantage whistling a backhand winner down the line to make it 4-4.

Kypson channeled that surge of adrenaline into more winners in the next game, with two forehand winners sandwiched around a perfectly executed topspin lob.  Now the pressure was squarely on Blanch, and serving to stay in the match, he fell behind 0-30 on a wide forehand and a missed overhead.

Blanch responded with a backhand winner and a confident overhead for 30-all, but netted a backhand to give Kypson a match point. Blanch saved it with a great forehand into the corner, forcing an error from Kypson, but Kypson earned a second match point and converted it.

"He hits a huge ball," said Kypson, who just missed being seeded this week by one ranking spot. "His serve is ginormous and so is his forehand. So it was a struggle to return his serve to where it would be a neutral scenario, but I defended well, so that helped a lot today."

Kypson admitted that breaking Blanch was an ideal way to close out the match.

"I think at 5-4 it was definitely better that he was serving," Kypson said. "It's never easy to serve out a match at 5-4."

Kypson admitted that he's under a bit more pressure to perform these two weeks after a disappointing trip to Brazil for the Banana Bowl and Grade A in Porto Alegre, where he won only one match.

"I had a pretty bad South America, I cramped two weeks in a row there," said the 16-year-old, who is currently 141 in the ITF rankings. "I was forced to pull out the first week, and the second week, I didn't want to pull out, so I kept playing. It was bad, because I thought I could have done a lot better there, I had a good opportunity, but it happens."

Kypson will play No. 16 seed Joshua Peck of Canada in the third round. Peck, who is 140 in the ITF junior rankings, defeated Luke Hammond of Great Britain 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

Anisimova struggled in the opening set against Livianu, with unforced errors the primary reason she fell behind 5-1.  Livianu wasn't able to close out the first set serving for it at 5-1 or 5-3, but on her sixth set point, with Anisimova serving at 5-4, Livianu got a double fault to secure the first set.

Anisimova began to find her range in the second set, with her errors much less frequent, and her depth keeping Livianu on defense. At 3-3 in the second set, Anisimova broke, held and broke, hitting a fine drop shot on set point.

The third set started much as the second had ended with Anisimova taking the first three games, but the fourth game could have proven to be a bit of a problem, with a few big rain drops halting play for a minute or two before the cloud passed.

"I was playing really well, so I was just hoping that the rain would go away," said Anisimova.

It did, and although Livianu did hold to make it 3-1, Anisimova won the next two games, and broke to secure the win.

"I started out making a lot of mistakes, but I adjusted to the courts, because they're really fast," said Anisimova, who reached the final of the Grade A in Brazil just ten days ago. "But I started playing my game, and I got better throughout the match. I'm very happy with myself. That's a great match to get through."

Anisimova will play No. 13 seed Ellie Douglas in Thursday's third round. Douglas beat Hanna Chang 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

In the last singles match of the day, unseeded Meible Chi defeated No. 4 seed Kylie McKenzie 3-6, 7-5, 6-1, winning the battle of the big forehands.

The wind that surfaces every afternoon in Carson, can be a challenge, but Chi was determined not to let that affect her.

"I knew the wind was there, but I didn't let it change the way I wanted to play," said the 16-year-old from Florida. "She loves to really hit the ball with pace, and I like to do that too. But I knew that I needed to do something a little bit different--change the pace, stay in the point longer, sometimes I have to guess, and sometimes she hits winners, but always I have to get ready for the next point."

Chi said staying focused on that strategy resulted in an especially satisfying win.

"I think this match I was able to stay with my plan, and execute it until the end," Chi said. "A lot of times, recently, I've been close but I've dropped off near the end. So yeah, good win."

Chi will play unseeded Sofia Sewing, who defeated No. 16 seed Abi Altick 7-5, 6-3.  No. 9 seed Alexandra Sanford was beaten by Rosie Johanson of Canada 6-3, 6-0 and No. 12 seed Hurricane Tyra Black fell to Elysia Bolton 6-4, 6-2.

No. 6 seed Vasil Kirkov was beaten by Kyrylo Tsygura 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, with Kirkov the only boys seed, aside from Blanch, to fall in the second round.  Defending champion William Blumberg was pushed to three sets by wild card Sebastian Korda but came away with a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 victory, while No. 5 seed Duarte Vale of Portugal won the final six points of the match to defeat qualifier Jacob Brumm 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).

In the 16s, top boys seeds Govind Nanda and Axel Nefve moved into the quarterfinals with straight-set victories, but No. 3 seed William Grant fell to Matthew Segura 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.

In the girls 16s, No. 2 seed Marcella Cruz was eliminated by No. 15 seed Katie Volynets 7-5, 6-1 and No. 3 seed Niluka Madurawe lost to No. 16 seed Vivian Cheng 7-5, 6-4.

The girls 18s doubles lost its top two seeds in the second round.  The top-seeded pair of Kayla Day and Sanford gave a walkover to Nadia Gizdova and Whitney Osuigwe, while Anisimova and Douglas, the No. 2 seeds, were beaten by wild cards Emma Decoste and Lea Ma 7-5, 6-1.
The only seeded teams in the quarterfinals of the girls doubles are No. 4 seeds Raquel Pedraza and Morgan Coppoc and No. 7 seeds Carson Branstine and Taylor Johnson.

All but two of the boys 18s doubles quarterfinalists are seeded.  Top seeds Blumberg and Nathan Ponwith advanced with a 3-6, 7-5, 10-6 win over Sebastian Arcila of Puerto Rico and Danny Thomas. Blanch and Liam Caruana, the No. 2 seeds, defeated Hammond and Jason Legall 6-2, 6-3.

Thursday's order of play is available at the tournament webpage.

Results from Wednesday are below:

Boys' 18 Singles (Round of 32)

Patrick Kypson (Greenville, NC)  def.  Ulises Blanch (Deerfield Beach, FL)  6-4, 5-7, 6-4

Joshua Peck (CAN)  def.  Luke Hammond (GBR)  6-4, 2-6, 6-4

Liam Caruana (ITA)  def.  Danny Thomas (Pickerington, OH)  6-0, 6-2

Brandon Holt (Rolling Hills, CA)  def.  Nathan Perrone (Bluffton, SC)  6-0, 6-1

Nathan Ponwith (Scottsdale, AZ)  def.  Sean Hill (Berkeley, CA)  6-1, 6-0

Alafia Ayeni (San Diego, CA)  def.  Brian Cernoch (North Bethesda, MD)  6-2, 6-2

Oliver Crawford (Spartanburg, SC)  def.  Jenson Brooksby (Carmichael, CA)  6-1, 6-2

Kyrylo Tsygura (North Potomac, MD)  def.  Vasil Kirkov (Tampa, FL)  6-3, 1-6, 6-4

Duarte Vale (POR)  def.  Jacob Brumm (Rancho Santa Fe, CA)  3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4)

Alexandre Rotsaert (Boca Raton, FL)  def.  Maxwell Mendelsohn (Little Rock, AR)  6-0, 6-3

Trent Bryde (Suwanee, GA)  def.  Andrew Fenty (Washington, DC)  6-4, 6-1

Sam Riffice (Granite Bay, CA)  def.  Juan Alejandro Hernandez Serrano (MEX)  6-2, 6-0

Zeke Clark (Tulsa, Okla.)  def.  Caleb Chakravarthi (Irvine, CA)  6-1, 6-3

Sebastian Arcila (Silver Spring, MD)  def.  Sam Turchetta (Pound Ridge, NY)  6-3, 6-2

Gianni Ross (Boca Raton, FL)  def.  Connor Hance (Torrance, CA)  6-4, 6-1

William Blumberg (Greenwich, CT)  def.  Sebastian Korda (Bradenton, FL)  5-7, 6-2, 6-1

Boys' 18 Doubles (Round of 16)

William Blumberg (Greenwich, CT) / Nathan Ponwith (Scottsdale, AZ)  def.  Sebastian Arcila (Silver Spring, MD) / Danny  Thomas (Pickerington, OH)  3-6, 7-5, 10-6

Vasil Kirkov (Tampa, FL) / Sebastian Korda (Bradenton, FL)  def.  Alafia Ayeni (San Diego, CA) / Joshua  Peck (CAN)  6-1, 6-1

Andres Andrade (ECU) / Duarte Vale (POR)  def.  Ching Lam (HKG) / Ming  Sou (HKG)  4-6, 6-3, 10-6

Sergio Hernandez (COL) / Juan Alejandro Hernandez Serrano (MEX)  def.  Gianni Ross (Boca Raton, FL) / Alexandre Rotsaert (Boca Raton, FL)  4-6, 6-1, 10-5

Trent Bryde (Suwanee, GA) / Patrick Kypson (Greenville, NC)  def. Zummy Bauer (Suwanee, GA) / Morgan  Dill (Coral Gables, FL)  6-2, 6-3

Oliver Crawford (Spartanburg, SC) / Brandon Holt (Rolling Hills, CA)  def. Alexander Donski (CAN) / Sebastian Mermersky (BUL)  6-3, 6-3

Brian Cernoch (North Bethesda, MD) / Sam Riffice (Granite Bay, CA)  def.  Arnav Dhingra (Darnestown, MD) / Nikolai  Parodi (Takoma Park, MD)  6-1, 6-3

Ulises Blanch (Deerfield Beach, FL) / Liam Caruana (ITA)  def. Luke Hammond (GBR) / Jason Legall (Palm Coast, FL)  6-2, 6-3

Girls' 18 Singles (Round of 32)

Amanda Anisimova (Hallandale Beach, FL)  def.  Jessica Livianu (Brooklyn, NY)  4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Ellie Douglas (McKinney, TX)  def.  Hanna Chang (Fontana, CA)  6-4, 2-6, 6-4

Jade Lewis (NZL)  def.  Camille Favero (Sacramento, CA)  6-3, 6-4

Carson Branstine (Orange, CA)  def.  Whitney Osuigwe (Bradenton, FL)  6-4, 6-4

Maria Mateas (Braintree, MA)  def.  Sara Choy (Palo Alto, CA)  6-1, 6-0

Abigail Desiatnikov (Atlanta, GA)  def.  Margaryta Bilokin (New Canaan, CT)  0-6, 6-4, 7-5

Emma Higuchi (Los Angeles, CA)  def.  Raquel Pedraza (Claremont, CA)  6-4, 6-1

Claire Liu (Thousand Oaks, CA)  def.  Layne Sleeth (CAN)  6-2, 6-1

Morgan Coppoc (Tulsa, OK)  def.  Dalayna Hewitt (Pepper Pike, OH)  6-4, 6-3

Rosie Johanson (CAN)  def.  Alexandra Sanford (Westerville, OH)  6-3, 6-0

Sofia Sewing (Doral, FL)  def.  Helen Altick (Monroe, LA)  7-5, 6-3

Meible Chi (Weston, FL)  def.  Kylie McKenzie (Anthem, AZ)  3-6, 7-5, 6-1

Michaela Gordon (Saratoga, CA)  def.  Melissa Plambeck (Bradenton, FL)  6-0, 6-1

Elysia Bolton (Cold Spring Harbor, NY)  def.  Hurricane Tyra Black (Boca Raton, FL)  6-4, 6-2

Ann Li (Devon, PA)  def.  Chiraz Bechri (TUN)  6-3, 2-6, 6-4

Kayla Day (Santa Barbara, CA)  def.  Ena Shibahara (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA)  7-5, 6-1

Girls' 18 Doubles (Round of 16)

Nadia Gizdova (Columbia, MD) / Whitney Osuigwe (Bradenton, FL)  def.  Kayla Day (Santa Barbara, CA) / Alexandra Sanford (Westerville, OH)    Wo (ill)

Dalayna Hewitt (Pepper Pike, OH) / Kariann Pierre Louis (Miami, FL)  def.  Ashley Lahey (Hawthorne, CA) / Mimi Levine (Santa Monica, CA)  6-2, 2-6, 12-10

Hurricane Tyra Black (Boca Raton, FL) / Ena Shibahara (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA)  def.  Victoria Emma (Naples, FL) / Maria Mateas (Braintree, MA)  6-1, 4-6, 10-8

Elysia Bolton (Cold Spring Harbor, NY) / Chiara Lommer (Skokie, IL)  def.  Hanna Chang (Fontana, CA) / Jessica Livianu (Brooklyn, NY)  7-6(4), 5-7, 10-1

Kate Paulus (Boca Raton, FL) / Alana Smith (Fort Washington, MD)  def.  Helen Altick (Monroe, LA) / Jade Lewis (NZL)  6-2, 7-6(5)

Morgan Coppoc (Tulsa, OK) / Raquel Pedraza (Claremont, CA)  def. Salma Ewing (Long Beach, CA) / Jada Robinson (Kennesaw, GA)  6-4, 6-3

Taylor Johnson (Redondo Beach, CA) / Carson Branstine (Orange, CA)  def.  Chloe Beck (Watkinsville, GA) / Emma Navarro (Charleston, SC)  6-3, 6-4

Lea Ma (Dix Hills, NY) / Emma Decoste (Stuart, FL)  def.  Amanda Anisimova (Hallandale Beach, FL) / Ellie Douglas (McKinney, TX)  7-5, 6-1

Boys' 16 Singles (Round of 16)

Govind Nanda (Cerritos, CA)  def.  Joshua Xu (Chandler, AZ)  6-4, 6-2

Vikash Singh (IND)  def.  Hunter Heck (New Brighton, MN)  6-2, 7-6(6)

Tyler Zink (Bradenton, FL)  def.  Maximilian Wild (Murrieta, CA)  6-3, 6-3

Adam Neff (Bradenton, FL)  def.  Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, CA)  7-5, 6-2

Eric Hahn (Fullerton, CA)  def.  Bradley Frye (Overland Park, KS)  6-3, 6-4

Matthew Segura (Los Angeles, CA)  def.  William Grant (Boca Raton, FL)  4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2

Jake Sands (Pacific Palisades, CA)  def.  Jaycer Lyeons (San Antonio, TX)  6-2, 6-1

Axel Nefve (Hinsdale, IL)  def.  Stevie Gould (Corte Madera, CA)  6-3, 7-6(0)

Girls' 16 Singles (Round of 16)

Eryn Cayetano (Corona, CA)  def.  Alexis Merrill (Fairfax, VA)  6-4, 3-6, 6-2

Luba Vasilyuk (Frisco, TX)  def.  Amy Huang (San Diego, CA)  4-6, 6-3, 6-2

Jessi Muljat (Sacramento, CA)  def.  Cameron Compall (Winnetka, IL)  6-2, 6-0

Peyton Stearns (Mason, OH)  def.  Gabriella Price (Montebello, NY)  6-2, 2-6, 6-4

Hailey Baptiste (Takoma Park, MD)  def.  Addison Guevara (Keller, TX)  6-2, 6-3

Vivian Cheng (Santa Monica, CA)  def.  Niluka Madurawe (Sunnyvale, CA)  7-5, 6-4

Cali Jankowski (Carlsbad, CA)  def.  Dasha Kourkina (Brooklyn, NY)  6-3, 6-3

Katie Volynets (Walnut Creek, CA)  def.  Marcella Cruz (Marlboro, NJ)  7-5, 6-1