Rain Delays Mar First Day of Wimbledon Junior Championships; Shelton, Collins and Fritz Reach Last 16; Teens Tien and Basavareddy Advance to Bloomfield Hills Challenger Final

©Colette Lewis 2024--

Wimbledon--

Rain delayed the start of the Wimbledon Junior Championships for two hours Saturday at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, then made several return visits throughout the day, with only 16 of the 30 junior matches on the schedule completed.

The weather felt more like April than July, with temperatures in the high 50s or low 60s and a cool breeze, with nearly every match facing at least one and frequently two rain delays.

All four Americans in action lost their matches, with Ian Mayew suffering the most disappointing loss. The 17-year-old University of North Carolina recruit had four match points in the second set  against Wiliam Rejchtman Vinciguerra of Sweden, but was unable to convert them in a 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3 loss.

Mayew's first opportunity came with Rejchtman Vinciguerra serving at 5-6, 30-40, but the 17-year-old left-hander hit a good cross-court backhand to save that and went on to hold. Mayew was up two mini-breaks at 3-0 in the tiebreaker, and while Mayew gave one of them back, he had a 5-3 lead when rain halted play. Forty-five minutes later, on the first point played, Mayew hit a drop shot winner to go up 6-3, but Rejchtman Vinciguerra saved the first with a good serve and the second when Mayew netted a backhand. With his first match point on serve, Mayew had the forehand he wanted, but that too found the net, and another unforced error gave Rejchtman Vinciguerra a set point, which he immediately converted.

Mayew had five chances to break serve in the first game of the third set, but couldn't convert any of them, with Rejchtman Vinciguerra drawing confidence from that hold. Mayew began to miss much more and his frequent drop shots were no longer effective, with Rejchtman Vinciguerra able to anticipate, and often hit winners past Mayew when he reached them.

Only two seeds fell in the first round, both the No. 12s: Katie Rolls, who lost to wild card Hephzibah Oluwadare of Great Britain, Marko Maksimovic of Serbia, who was beaten by another British wild card, Charlie Swaine, 6-2, 7-5.

With just one quarter of the 64 singles matches completed, Sunday's scheduled is packed, but unfortunately the forecast is calling for an 80 percent chance of rain Sunday as well.

Saturday's first round junior results of Americans:

Hephzibah Oluwadare[WC](GBR) d, Katie Rolls[12] 6-1, 6-2

Kristina Penickova[9] v Yelyzaveta Kotliar(UKR), postponed

Thea Frodin v Eliska Tichackova(CZE), postponed

Nathan Trouve(FRA) d. Alex Razeghi 6-3, 6-4

Wiliam Rejchtman Vinciguerra(SWE) d. Ian Mayew 5-7, 7-6(6), 6-3

Hoyoung Roh(KOR) d. Max Exsted 6-3, 6-2

Sunday's first round junior matches featuring Americans:

Kaylan Bigun[1] v Maximilian Carrier[WC](GBR)

Kase Schinnerer[Q] v Jamie Diack[WC](GBR)

Cooper Woestendick[15] v Tom Sickenberger[Q](GER)

Matthew Forbes v Conor Brady[WC](GBR)

Jack Kennedy v Jangjun Kim[9](KOR)

Jagger Leach v Izan Almazan Valiente(ESP)

Trevor Svajda v Hayden Jones[7](AUS)

Annika Penickova[Q] v Hollie Smart[WC](GBR)

Christasha McNeil[Q] v Renata Jamrichova[1](SVK)

Iva Jovic[6] v Julie Pastikova(CZE)

Tyra Grant[4] v Lilli Tagger[Q](SUI)

Akasha Urhobo v Mika Stojsavljevic(GBR) 

Thea Frodin v Eliska Tichackova(CZE)

Kristina Penickova[9] v Yelysaveta Kotliar(UKR)

Shannon Lam v Mia Pohankova[Q](SVK)

Six of the eight men's and women's fourth round singles matches are scheduled for Centre and Court One, which both have roofs, so rain is likely to be less of a problem for the pros Sunday.

Today, three more Americans advanced to Wimbledon's fourth round, for a total of seven, which is the most Americans in the fourth round of Wimbledon since 2004, when it was Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Amy Frazier, Andy Roddick, Robby Ginepri and Vince Spadea. This year it is Coco Gauff, Emma Navarro, Madison Keys, Danielle Collins, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz.

2022 NCAA champion Ben Shelton(Florida) reached the fourth round exactly 30 years after his father Bryan had achieved that in 1994. He is the only one of the seven who was forced, due to the rain, to play his third round and fourth round in consecutive days.

Saturday's third round results for Americans:

Ben Shelton[14] d. Denis Shapovalov(CAN) 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2

Ugo Humbert[16](FRA) d. Brandon Nakashima 7-6(9), 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-6(6)

Danielle Collins[11] d.  Beatrice Haddad Maia[20](BRA) 6-4, 6-4

Jelena Ostapenko[13](LAT) d. Bernarda Pera 6-1, 6-3

Taylor Fritz[13] d. Alejandro Tabilo[24](CHI) 7-6(3), 6-3, 7-5

Sunday's fourth round matches featuring Americans:

Emma Navarro[19] v Coco Gauff[2]

Madison Keys[12] v Jasmine Paolini[7](ITA)

Ben Shelton[14] v Jannik Sinner[1](ITA)

Tommy Paul[12] v Roberto Bautista Agut(ESP)

Two teenagers who played the Kalamazoo 18s last year have advanced to the final of the ATP Challenger 75 in Bloomfield Hills Michigan.

Eighteen-year-old Learner Tien, the 2022 and 2023 Kalamazoo 18s champion, extended his pro winning streak to 19 matches today with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over qualifier Ryan Seggerman(Princeton, North Carolina). Tien, who played at USC in the spring of 2023, will be competing in his first Challenger final after winning his first Challenger semifinal today. Nineteen-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy, who lost in Kalamazoo semifinals last year to Trevor Svajda, advanced to his second Challenger final when qualifier Stefan Kozlov retired trailing 6-2, 2-0. According to the ATP, that final will be just the third in history to feature two American teenagers.

Basavareddy, a rising junior at Stanford, and Ozan Baris, a rising junior at Michigan State, are in the doubles final against top seeds Seggerman and Patrick Trhac(Idaho State, Utah, with that match delayed Saturday evening with Basavareddy and Baris up 4-3 in the first. The 2022 US Open boys doubles champions were given a wild card this week and have picked up where they left off in New York.