List of All Eddie Herr Seeds as Play Begins Monday for 12s, 14s, 16s and ITF J300; Top Seeds Samsonova and Pacheco Earn ITF J500 Merida Titles; Italy Claims First Davis Cup in 47 Years

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Bradenton FL--

The weather in this part of Florida is generally excellent throughout the Eddie Herr International Championships, but this year it has presented more challenges than usual, although all qualifying was completed today in time for the scheduled start of the main draw on Monday at the IMG Academy.

The 12s, 14s and 16s qualifying had only one match to complete today, and they finished about 45 minutes ahead of the first shower of day around 1 p.m. The rain was brief, yet heavy enough to suspend play on the Har-Tru courts where the ITF J300 is played; the delay was a short one, with most matches resuming within 45 minutes, but the second round of the girls qualifying had not finished, putting a few of those matches in jeopardy of not finishing. Fortunately the rain that did return was light enough to avoid another suspension and only one match needed to be scheduled after 4 p.m. and it could move to the one lighted Har-Tru court.

Only one American qualified for the ITF J300: Sophie Llewellyn, a recent SMU signee who lives in nearby Tarpon Springs. Christasha McNeil, the top seed in qualifying lost in the final round of qualifying to 13-year-old Victoria Barros of Brazil, who has already won four ITF Junior Circuit singles titles including at J100 last month in Croatia. No. 11 seed Barros, who beat McNeil 6-2, 6-2, lost only eight games in her three qualifying wins and looked right at home on the Har-Tru, using her variety to keep McNeil off balance.

The other American in qualifying who made the main draw is Benjamin Sparks, who retired to Rafael Bortran Neutze of Guatemala in the final round trailing 5-3 in the first set, but received entry as a lucky loser. 

Late withdrawals included Alexander Razeghi and Roy Horovitz, who lost 7-5, 6-4 in the doubles final last night to Sebastian Eriksson of Sweden and Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic at the J500 in Merida, and Great Britain's Hannah Klugman, who won the doubles title in Merida last night with Kaitlin Quevedo, beating Ariana Pursoo and her partner Laura Brunkel of Denmark 6-3, 7-6(5).  Nikolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway, who lost in the singles semifinals last night in Merida, also withdrew from the Eddie Herr.

The seeds for the ITF J300:

Boys:

1. Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez (MEX)

2. Iliyan Radulov (BUL)

3. Oliver Ojakaar (EST)

4. Alexander Frusina (USA)

5. Adhithya Ganesan (USA)

6. Kaylan Bigun (USA)

7. Charlie Camus (AUS)

8. Maxim Mrva (CZE)

9. Lasse Poertner (GER)

10. Sebastian Eriksson (SWE)

11. Reda Bennani (MAR)

12. Timofei Derepasko (RUS)

13. Viktor Frydrych (GBR)

14. Charlie Robertson (GBR)

15. Danil Panarin (RUS)

16. Daniil Sarksian (RUS)

Girls:

1. Laura Samsonova (CZE)

2. Iva Jovic (USA)

3. Alena Kovackova (CZE)

4. Tyra Grant (USA)

5. Teodora Kostovic (SRB)

6. Wakana Sonobe (JPN)

7. Gloriana Nahum (BEN)

8. Iva Ivanova (BUL)

9. Luna Maria Cinalli (ARG)

10. Alisa Oktiabreva (RUS)

11. Elizara Yaneva (BUL)

12. Rositsa Dencheva (BUL)

13. Alanis Hamilton (USA)

14. Emily Sartz-Lunde (NOR)

15. Monika Stankiewicz (POL)

16. Mia Slama (USA)

Both Pacheco Mendez and Samsonova will come into their first round Eddie Herr matches Tuesday as ITF J500 champions after tonight's finals in the Yucatan World Cup in Merida Mexico. Pacheco became the first Mexican player to win back-to-back titles at the tournament, with the top seed defeating unseeded Patrick Schoenhaus of Germany 6-0, 6-3. The 15-year-old Samsonova, also a No. 1 seed, beat No. 2 seed Kaitlin Quevedo 6-3, 6-4 in tonight's final for her first J500 title.

The draws for the 12s, 14s, 16s are available here; the seeds, along with their countries, are below:

Boys 12s Seeds

1. Rafael Pagonis (GRE)

2. Anthony Kirchner (USA)

3. Thamma Kosiri (THA)

4. Jang Junseo (KOR)

5. Fu Wang Choi (HKG)

6. Daniel Gardality (USA)

7. Luke Jones (USA)

8. Rex Kulman (USA)

9. Siyun Kim (KOR)

10. Camelot Carnello (USA)

11. Matteo Limones (MEX)

12. Aryan Harwani (USA)

13. Michael Chervenkov (USA)

14. Juan Cruz More (ARG)

15. Reita Yamanaka (USA)

16. Simon Giambastiani (ARG)

Girls 12s Seeds

1. Caroline Shao (USA)

2. Paweenon Nualsri (THA)

3. Nikol Davletshina (USA)

4. Daniela Davletshina (USA)

5. Yui Watanabe (USA)

6. Adriana Khomyakova (USA)

7. Nadia Poznick (USA)

8. Sofiia Bielinska (UKR)

9. Isabella Yan CAN)

10. Audrey Dussault (USA)

11. Yerin Lee (KOR)

12. Emery Combs (USA)

13. Ceressa Jackson (NZL)

14. Olivia De Los Reyes (USA)

15. Sophia Khomoutov (USA)

16. Isabella Gonzalez (USA)

Boys 14s Seeds

1. Michael Antonius (USA)

2. Colin McPeek (USA)

3. Andrew Johnson (USA)

4. Jerrid Gaines (USA)

5. Navneet Raghuram (USA)

6. Jordan Lee (USA)

7. Emilio Camacho (ECU)

8. Mason Vaughan (USA)

9. Shaan Majeed USA)

10. Kaan Isik Kosaner (TUR)

11. Mark Mrcela (USA)

12. Teodor Davidov (USA)

13. Joshua Adamson (USA)

14. Daniel Patsula (USA)

15. Tabb Tuck (USA)

16. Andy Tchinda Kepche (CAN)

Girls 14s Seeds

1. Nancy Lee (USA)

2. Lyla Middleton (USA)

3. Giulia Popa (ROM)

4. Charlie Celebrini (USA)

5. Chukwumelije Clarke (USA)

6. Ariana Ikwueme (USA)

7. Hanne Estrada (MEX)

8. Welles Newman (USA)

9. Reagan Levine (USA)

10. Anastasia Malysheva (RUS)

11. Hannah Ayrault (USA)

12. Raya Kotseva (USA)

13. Anjani Vickneswaran (USA)

14. Joyce Geng (CAN)

15. Andrea Taylor (CAN)

16. Renee Alame (AUS)

Boys 16s Seeds

1. Jack Satterfield (USA)

2. Jack Secord (USA)

3. Ryan Cozad (USA)

4. Benjamin Saltman (USA)

5. Keaton Hance (USA)

6. Nischal Spurling (USA)

7. Ford McCollum (USA)

8. Sklar Phillips (USA)

9. Roshan Santhosh (USA)

10. Madhav Binu (USA)

11. Gordon Gallagher (USA)

12. Mason Taube (USA)

13. Arnav Bhandari (USA)

14. Avner Wong (USA)

15. Nikolas Stoot (USA)

16. Adrian Treacy (USA)

Girls 16s Seeds

1. Annika Penickova (USA)

2. Kristina Penickova (USA)

3. Kenzie Nguyen (USA)

4. Bella Payne (USA)

5. Ishika Ashar (USA)

6. Kayla Moore (USA)

7. Ava Rodriguez (USA)

8. Katerina Shabashkevich (USA)

9. Alisa Ozgun (USA)

10. Hadley Appling (USA)

11. Alston Myatt (USA)

12. Lauren Kettlewell (USA)

13. Kirsten Woods (USA)

14. Emerey Gross (USA)

15. Georgia Kulevich (USA)

16. Lillian Santos (USA)

The Davis Cup was decided today in Spain, with Italy defeating Australia 2-0 to claim its first title since 1976. Jannik Sinner saved three match points in his win over Novak Djokovic that clinched Saturday's victory over Serbia, and today he defeated Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-0 for the title, after Matteo Arnaldi had beaten Alexei Popyrin in the first singles match 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. For more on the final, see this article from the Davis Cup website.