Blanch, Bigun and Exsted Ousted in Kalamazoo 18s Fourth Round Action; Top Four Seeds Advance in 16s Singles; USA Teams Reach Quarterfinals of ITF World Junior Tennis 14U Team Event

©Colette Lewis--
Kalamazoo MI--

The rain exited Southwest Michigan on Wednesday, leaving upsets to take center stage at the USTA National 18s and 16s National Championships at Stowe Stadium. 

Sunny skies, low humidity and temperatures in the 60s greeted the 16s players competing in the morning's fourth round, and that draw went mostly to form, with top seed Gus Grumet, No. 2 seed Gavin Goode, No. 3 seed Jack Secord and No. 4 seed Yannik Alvarez all advancing to Thursday's round of 16 in straight sets.

But one top 8 seed was eliminated in the 16s division, with No. 19 seed Gregory Bernadsky getting past No. 7 seed Zavier Augustin 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 in three hours and 17 minutes.

After coming back from 5-2 down in the second set, only to lose it, the 16-year-old from Mason Ohio was able to hold his nerve when he had a 5-2 lead in the third set.

"I really had to stay focused and not let go," said Bernadsky, who struggled with injuries year, and had a cast on his left wrist for two months in the spring. "He held for 5-3 and my quad started cramping up when I was serving up 40-0, so I lost that point, and I thought I had to go for a big serve and a big forehand, and that's exactly what I did. I made a a first serve, plus-one of the forehand and an easy putaway."

Bernadsky was playing with a brace on both ankles, which was due to two to sprains just a couple of weeks before Kalamazoo.

"It kind of discouraged me, and I didn't know if I'd withdraw from the tournament," said Bernadsky, who lives five minutes from the site of the Cincinnati Open. "I came in here with like honestly, two days of training, and I knew I would ramp up as the tournament went on, but this feels great."

Bernadsky will face No. 33 seed Adrien Abarca, who beat No. 28 seed Mason Taube 6-3, 6-3.

Unseeded John Cross came into his match with No. 6 seed Maxwell Exsted full of confidence after taking out No. 19 seed Evan Burnett 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the third round two days ago at Western Michigan. But even he was marveling at his ability to adjust to the pressure of playing on Stowe Stadium's Court 3 against a top seed.

"It's the first time I've every played here," said Cross, who beat Exsted 6-3, 6-3. "Last year I played at Western and then a bunch indoors. Just being here, with the atmosphere, the crowd, every player around me is the top of the top. It's just an honor to be here, and I feel like I fit in. That motivated me and helped me play the best that I could have played."

Cross, an 18-year-old from Newport Beach California, said the form he showed in his win over Burnett continued today against Exsted, ranked No. 29 among ITF juniors. 

"I just felt super clean, felt like I was hitting the ball, playing my A game against Evan," said Cross, who begins his collegiate career at Cal Poly in a few weeks. "My grandpa, who was a very good player, was telling me if I play like that I can fit in with anyone here. So I just carried that motivation and positivity and went out and was able to replicate that."

For all his confidence and success, Cross admitted he had not anticipated this kind of run this week.

"I was coming here looking to win maybe my first two matches, do some damage in the back draw," Cross said. "This is not what where I thought I would be. But I've been putting in the work in practice, so I'm surprised, but not super surprised, because I believe in myself and I've definitely put in the work and have been playing well in practice, so I was ready for a breakout tournament."

Cross will face No. 14 seed Mitchell Lee, who won the longest match of the tournament--three hours and 46 minutes--over No. 28 seed Dominick Mosejczuk 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5).

Leading 4-0 in the final set tiebreaker, Lee lost the next 5 points, but with the match on his racquet, Mosejczuk went up for a first serve and came down cramping. Lee won the point, and Mosejczuk was in obvious distress; after missing his first serve again, he ended up netting a forehand after a lengthy rally, giving Lee a match point. When Mosejczuk's backhand sailed long, Lee celebrated his survival, then immediately went to Mosejczuk's side of the court to offer what aid he could.

Both Mosejczuk and Lee had fourth round doubles matches scheduled for the evening, and they were both still playing those matches as of 9:45 p.m.

The next upset in the 18s came on Court 2, with No. 18 seed Nikita Filin ousting No. 2 seed and 2022 Kalamazoo 16s champion Darwin Blanch 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Filin served for the first set at 5-3 and was broken, but immediately broke back to take the set. He did not expect anything other than what Blanch displayed: an elevation of his game.

"I knew Darwin would play some unbelievable shots, so I just had to prepare for that," said the 18-year-old from Illinois, whose pace and depth were giving Blanch difficulty throughout the opening set. "I knew it was going to be a battle going into it. I knew he would step up his level. But I knew if I could hold serve in the third, I would get some more chances."

Up a break in the third, Filin still had to serve it out, and he admitted he had luck on his side, when Blanch played a miraculous defensive shot that should have won him the 30-15 point.

"I was trying to go inside out and it was a total shank," whose shot caught the sideline and left Blanch shaking his head in disbelief. "It was so lucky. After that point, I thought maybe it is meant to be. Maybe it is my time." 

Filin double faulted on the first match point, but hit a big first serve on the second to secure the victory.

Blanch's power is formidable, but with Filin starting at Ohio State in June, and training this summer with the team, it's nothing he hasn't seen in practice the past several months.

"I took a summer class, so I'm able to practice with the team," Filin said. "Everyone's there. JJ(Tracy), Robert(Cash) are still there, Cannon(Kingsley) is there between tournaments, Wolf was with us the first of month, June, so a lot of good hits. So I saw that level every day in practice, today wasn't anything new."

Filin will play No. 10 seed Adhithya Ganesan, one of three rising college sophomores in the round of 16, on Thursday. Ganesan defeated Stiles Brockett(29) 6-4, 6-2.

Following Exsted and Cross on Court 2 were No. 3 seed and Roland Garros boys champion Kaylan Bigun and No. 24 seed Noah Johnston, and again the favorite faced an opponent playing at the top of his game, with Johnston holding firm to claim a 7-6(5), 7-6(5) victory.

Bigun led 4-2 in both tiebreakers, but it was Johnston who simply refused to miss in the final few points of those sets.

"It's hard to ignore the score in a tiebreaker, but it's never over," said the 16-year-old from South Carolina, who was a semifinalist in the 16s last year. "They go up and they go down, as with everything in life, but you have to fight for it, if you want the match, and that's what I tried to do."

Johnston, who, like Bigun, is left-handed, is comfortable at the net and confident in his overheads and he was prepared to make Bigun uncomfortable.

"I gave him a game he did not like," said Johnston. "That was my goal. He could have played better, especially in the big moments, but he's going to bounce back. I believe in him. He's a great kid and a great player."

Johnston said he is not one to look ahead in the draw, and wasn't aware that Bigun was awaiting him in the fourth round until yesterday.  He will face Georgia rising sophomore Cyrus Mahjoob, the No. 13 seed, who saved a match point in his 2-6, 7-6(6). 6-2 win over No 33 seed Alex Feies.

Top seed Trevor Svajda and No. 4 seed Cooper Woestendick avoided the upset bug infecting the three Stowe show courts, with Svajda beating No. 25 seed Kase Schinnerer 6-3, 6-3 and Woestendick defeating No. 23 seed Ian Bracks 6-0, 6-4.

After all the chaos in singles, the fourth round of 18 doubles went to form, with the top four seeds all advancing in to Thursday's quarterfinals in straight sets. 

Defending champions and top seeds Alex Frusina and Ganesan defeated the unseeded team of Blake Anderson and Elliot Wasserman 7-6(5), 6-4; Australian Open boys doubles champions Exsted and Woestendick, the No. 2 seeds, defeated No. 16 seeds Jack Kennedy and Jordan Resnik 6-4, 6-2; No. 3 seeds Johnston and Benjamin Willwerth beat the unseeded team of Nicolas Iantosca and Drew Fishback 6-3, 6-2 and No. 4 seeds Filin and Alexander Razeghi advanced when the unseeded team of Brennon Chow and Ian Miller retired trailing 6-3, 1-0.

Round of 16 matches in both age divisions will begin at 9 a.m. and extend through the afternoon, with all main draw matches at Stowe Stadium. The quarterfinals in both 16s and 18s doubles will be played at Stowe Stadium beginning at 5 p.m.

All matches will be streamed, with links to the streams and live scoring at ustaboys.com.

Both teams from the United States have advanced to the quarterfinals of the ITF World Junior Tennis 14U team championships in Prostejov Czech Republic. The top-seeded boys team of Jordan Lee, Michael Antonius and Teodor Davidov finished at the top of their group, winning all nine of their matches against three opponents. The girls, seeded No. 2, lost to No. 8 Ukraine in round robin play, but finished at the top of the group due to tiebreakers, with three teams (Ukraine and Slovakia) all going 2-1. Raya Kotseva, Welles Newman and Maggie Sohns are representing the United States.

The boys will face No. 3 seed Great Britain in the quarterfinals, because Great Britain finished second in their group to No. 5 seed Japan. 

The girls will face No. 6 seed Japan, who finished second in their group to top seed Czech Republic. 

Links to live streaming and live scoring are available here.