Half the Seeds Fall on Day Two of the ITF Grade 1 International Open of Southern California; Draws, Seeds Posted for Easter Bowl 12s and 14s; Five Americans Qualify for Miami Open
©Colette Lewis 2021
San Diego CA--
A brief shower Tuesday morning delayed the debut of the seeded players in the second round of the ITF Grade 1 International Open of Southern California, and when the singles matches finished under sunny skies at the Barnes Tennis Center, half of them had seen their hopes for a title ended.
The top four seeds in both the girls and boys draws survived, but eight girls and eight boys seeds were eliminated, including both No. 5 seeds, who lost to Southern Californians.
Kimmi Hance of Torrance defeated No. 5 seed Annabelle Xu of Canada 7-5, 6-4 and wild card Alex Michelsen ousted No. 5 seed Aidan Mayo 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4.
Michelsen, who won the 2020 Southern California 18s sectional championships last fall, had lost to Mayo in straight sets last month in a UTR event in Newport Beach.
"I was prepared for this one, ready for all his antics," said the 16-year-old. "The first time I didn't know who he was, and he just came out and yelled at me on every point, but this time I was ready for it."
Michelsen is making his debut in the ITF Junior Circuit this week, but he is comfortable with the setting.
"It feels great," said Michelsen. "I've won a few tournaments here, so hopefully I can get this one, that would be great."
Michelsen will play unseeded Ethan Quinn, who defeated No. 9 seed Benjamin Kittay 2-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Michelsen wasn't the only Southern California wild card to pull off an upset today, with Rohan Murali, who trains with Steve Adamson at the Barnes Tennis Center, beating No. 11 seed Yamato Sueoka of Japan 7-6(5), 6-3.
"We've played each other since 12s, so many times," said Shick. "We're really good friends too, so it's always a fun match. He's been playing really well and has made a huge jump in the past five months, but I didn't really think too much about that...I thought he might be a little tired after playing there all week, then flying here and playing two days later, it's pretty tough. I'm sure that played a bit of a role."
Shick, who was sporting his bright red Wolfpack half-zip to ward off the San Diego chill, enrolled at North Carolina State in January, where he is both literally and figuratively a red-shirt.
"I made a last-minute decision, like January 5th, and moved out a week later from my house, just for training pretty much," said Shick, who is from Greensboro North Carolina. "I thought it would be an advantage to train with college guys and still have the opportunity to come play here, so that's why I red-shirted: to play this tournaments, with the college training."
Shick will face unseeded Sebastian Sec, who downed No. 12 seed Pedro Rodenas of Spain 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
Top seed Bruno Kuzuhara had his hands full with qualifier Sebastian Gorzny, but Kuzuhara survived 7-6(4), 6-3. Girls top seed Alexandra Yepifanova defeated Canadian Martyna Ostrzygalo of Canada 6-2, 7-5.
No. 2 seed Elvina Kalieva was pushed to the limit by qualifier Ahmani Guichard before pulling out a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory. Kalieva trailed 15-40 in both the eighth and final game of the third set, but managed to hold serve each time, outlasting Guichard in several punishing rallies to secure the win.
"I've played Alexis a lot, especially in the past three months, I've played her three times, so I got a little nervous," said Hamner, who has committed to South Carolina for this fall. "But after the first set, I kept moving forward and taking time away. I knew it was going to be a grind, and I was a little nervous, but it's ok, I calmed down."
Hamner's doubles partner, No. 4 seed Ashlyn Krueger, had plenty of time to watch her friend's match after taking out Nikita Vishwase of India 6-0, 6-1 in less than a hour.
"I played well," said the reigning Orange Bowl champion, who used her serve and forehand to win a lot of points quickly. "I just focused on a lot of stuff I was working on in practice. She kind of had a game that set up what I was working on, so I just took care of business. She was super competitive and she played well; I just outplayed her today."
The quarterfinals are set in doubles, with seven of the eight seeded teams advancing in the girls draw, but only four of the eight boys seeds surviving.
Wednesday's order of play and completed draws are available at the tournament website.
The Easter Bowl 12s and 14s divisions begin on Thursday, and draws have been posted at the TennisLink site. The top four seeds in each draw:
B12s
1. Trenton Kanchankomtorn
2. Krishna Bhadriraju
3. Carel Ngounoue
4. Sebastian Bielen
1. Cooper Woestendick
2. Braeden Gelletich
3. Nicolas Iantosca
4. A Filer
G12s
1. Kayla Moore
2. Sena Yoon
3. Isabelle DeLuccia
4. Shannon Lam
G14s
1. Katie Rolls
2. Amber Yin
3. Christasha McNeil
4. Maya Iyengar
Qualifying has concluded at the Miami Open, with Ernesto Escobedo, Mackenzie McDonald, Bjorn Fratangelo and Emilio Nava earning spots in the main draw. 2019 Wimbledon junior champion Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan, who, like Nava, received a qualifying wild card, also advanced to the main draw. Hailey Baptiste, also given a wild card into qualifying, is the only American woman who made it through to the main draw.
The women's main draw is here; the men's main draw is here.
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