Qualifiers Jones and Cox Oust Seeds to Reach Quarterfinals at ITF Grade 1 in San Diego, Top Seeds Out in Doubles; Texas A&M's Habib, Georgia's Jokic No. 1 in First ITA D-I Singles Rankings

©Colette Lewis 2021
San Diego CA--

Elisabeth Jones and Nathan Cox have little experience in ITF Junior Circuit Grade 1 events, which explains why they both had to win three qualifying matches just to reach the main draw.

But both have made the most of their opportunities this week at the International Open of Southern California, taking out seeds in Wednesday's third round action on a clear and cool day at the Barnes Tennis Center.

Jones defeated No. 11 seed Rebecca Lynn in the second round Tuesday, and was able to follow that up with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over No. 6 seed Valencia Xu, using her two-handed forehand to control many of the points.

"I love having both hands, I feel I can do so much with it," said the 17-year-old from Grosse Pointe Farms, who has verbally committed to Michigan. "I love taking balls early, that's probably the biggest part of my game. I can just step in and hit it and I feel like it has extra power too...it's very unorthodox, it throws people off and it's not a normal ball that I'm hitting."

Jones started playing with both hands on both sides at the Wimbledon Racquet Club, back when she was too small to swing a racquet with two hands.

"My coach Joe Shaheen told me to play that way," Jones said. "I was too weak to use one hand."

Jones said she had lost badly to Xu in the 14s.

"I did not do too well," Jones said of the 6-2, 6-0 loss she suffered in 2017. "It wasn't that close. But I think I had a good game plan going into this match, and my last two opponents have kind of had her game style too, so I just knew what I was doing, upping my game, especially on the big points."

During 2019 Jones had started to play more lower level ITF events in the United States, but the pandemic put an end to that. She lost in the second round of the Grade 4 in Las Vegas last week, but her relatively easy wins in qualifying provided the boost she needed.

"I've been having a lot more confidence this tournament," Jones said. "Usually I struggle with that, but I'm being more positive, believing in myself, that I can win this match, believing I can beat anyone here."

Jones will face No. 3 seed Julia Garcia of Mexico, who got a walkover from and injured Eleana Yu.

Jones is the only unseeded player remaining in the draw with seven of the eight seeds in action today advancing.  Top seed Alexandra Yepifanova made short work of qualifier Karsyn Evans 6-0, 6-0. Yepifanova will play No. 9 seed Clervie Ngounoue, who defeated Kimmi Hance 6-0, 6-3.   In the bottom half, No. 12 seed Kayla Cross of Canada will face No. 4 seed Ashlyn Krueger, who defeated Las Vegas winner Victoria Mboko of Canada 6-2, 6-0. Cross posted a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sarah Hamner to advance to the quarterfinals. No. 2 seed Elvina Kalieva, who barely eked out a victory yesterday in three sets, had a straightforward 6-2, 6-0 win over Vivian Ovrootsky in today's third round. She will play No. 10 seed Reese Brantmeier, who won the only three set match in the girls third round Wednesday, beating Madeleine Jessup 7-5, 5-7, 6-1.

Cox won the only three-set match in the boys third round, and he took down the highest seed yet to fall in No. 3 Alexander Bernard. After dropping the first set 6-3, Cox worked out a strategy that paid off in a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory.

"I made a lot of errors in the first set and I think it was because his forehand was really heavy, it was a big ball," said Cox, who was playing his second fellow left-hander in as many days. "But his backhand was a little bit weaker, so in the second and third set I started to attack his backhand more. That helped me a lot, keeping more balls in and keeping him on the run and me attacking, not him."

Cox had played only a few lower level ITF Junior events in Florida and the Caribbean, but the high school junior is now in the quarterfinals of the first Grade 1 he has ever played. He'll need to make the singles final this week to earn a special exemption into the main draw of the Grade B1 Easter Bowl next week.

Cox will play another of the unseeded players in the bottom half, Braden Shick, who defeated Sebastian Sec 7-6(2), 7-6(5) in the longest match of the day, with a duration of two and a half hours.

The third unseeded player in the bottom half quarterfinals is Ethan Quinn, who beat wild card Alex Michelsen 6-4, 6-1. He will play Jack Pinnington Jones of Great Britain, the only international player still remaining in the boys draw. Pinnington Jones defeated No. 14 seed Azuma Visaya 6-3, 6-3.

The top half will feature all seeds, with top seed Bruno Kuzuhara taking on No. 7 seed Victor Lilov. Kuzuhara took out Jayden Templeman of Canada 6-3, 6-3, while Lilov ended the run of wild card Rohan Murali 6-2, 6-0. Kuzuhara and Lilov met in the final of the Junior Orange Bowl 12s way back in 2016 and have been frequent doubles partners on the ITF Junior Circuit the past several years.

No. 4 seed Jack Anthrop, who defeated Alexander Razeghi 6-2, 6-1, will take on No. 8 seed Samir Banerjee, who advanced when Ryan Colby retired trailing 6-0, 1-0. Banerjee reached the final of the Grade 1 in Colombia last week.

Banerjee is half of the only seeded doubles team remaining in the boys draw after a series of upsets in this afternoon's action. Banerjee and Benjamin Kittay, the No. 4 seeds, defeated No. 8 seeds Visaya and Lucas Brown 6-7(4), 6-4, 10-8 to reach Thursday's semifinals. They will play Cox and his partner Sebastian Gorzny, who took out top seeds Bernard and Lilov 7-5, 6-3.

No. 2 seeds Kuzuhara and Aidan Kim lost to 16s Orange Bowl champions Quinn and Nicholas Godsick 2-6, 6-3, 10-8. Quinn and Godsick face Colby and Ekansh Kumar, who defeated the unseeded team of Templeman and Evan Lee 6-2, 7-5. 

The top two seeds in the girls doubles also lost this afternoon, with No. 7 seeds Mboko and Ngounoue beating No. 1 Kalieva and Yepifanova 2-6, 6-2, 10-4. Orange Bowl champions Brantmeier and Hance, seeded No. 6, defeated No. 2 seeds Cross and Xu 6-2, 6-1.   Brantmeier and Hance will face No. 5 seeds Hamner and Krueger in the semifinals, while Mboko and Ngounoue will play the last team to get into the draw, Gracie Epps and Aubrey Nisbet. Epps and Nisbet defeated No. 4 seeds Mia Kupres and Annabelle Xu of Canada 7-6(7), 2-6, 10-8.

The ITA released its first Division I individual rankings of the year today, with Texas A&M's Hady Habib No. 1 in men's singles and Georgia's Katarina Jokic No. 1 in women's singles. The top men's doubles team is Mississippi's Tim Sandkaulen and Finn Reynolds. The No. 1 team in women's doubles is Georgia Tech's Victoria Flores and Kenya Jones.

There was no change at the top of the team rankings, which were done by computer for the first time this week, with the North Carolina women and North Carolina men holding on to the top spots.