Hedgecoe Celebrates an Unhappy Anniversary with Second Round Upset in B18s at Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids Commuter Caldwell Reaches Third Round; US Men Take Olympic Silver and Bronze in Doubles

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Kalamazoo MI--

A year ago today, Drew Hedgecoe was having surgery, unable to compete at the USTA Boys 18s Nationals after having played in the 16s division the previous two years. Today at the Western Michigan University Sorensen Courts, the 18-year-old from Fayetteville North Carolina traded out that fraught memory with a much more joyful one, earning wins in both singles and doubles, with the former a 6-2, 6-4 upset of USTA Clay Courts finalist Ronit Karki, the No. 12 seed.

"I'd never played him, but I've always heard his name and I know he's a great player," said Hedgecoe, a rising senior who has verbally committed to Baylor. "I thought I played really well today, stuck to my game plan. I've known that I've had this kind of level in me for a while, it was just a matter of putting it all together, having my body cooperate. It's good to be healthy and good to be playing like I know I can."

Hedgecoe said his recovery time since the surgery to repair a torn ab muscle wasn't that extensive, but finding his game in the aftermath proved to be an eight month journey.

"It was really, really tough," said Hedgecoe, who is coached by Cameron Moore in Cary North Carolina, more than an hour's drive from his home. "I came back, started playing the L4s because I had no ranking. My first L4 I got rounded by two guys I should not lose to. It took a while, I'd say until late spring, where I started to feel like myself."

Hedgecoe, who won his opening match on Friday 6-2, 6-2, said everything was working today against Karki, who had also reached the Easter Bowl 18s final this spring. 

"I just did a good job of taking the ball early, moving the guy around, dictating with my forehand," said Hedgecoe, who won three consecutive state high school championships. "That's how I want to play. I came forward well and played well when I needed to. The second set was pretty tight, I broke him at 3-all, had a good hold for 5-3, then had a long game at 5-4 to close it out. But I executed when I needed to and had a good game plan going in, so it all kind of lined up a little bit today."

Hedgecoe and his partner Jake Kennedy won their first round doubles match over Shaurya Bharadwaj and Cyrus Zia 6-1, 6-0 to close out the day.

Karki was joined on the upset list by Clay Courts champion Dylan Long, the No. 11 seed, who was beaten by Prathinav Chunduru 6-3, 7-6(5). Karki and Long were the only two top 16 seeds to fall in their opening matches today. Top seed Trevor Svajda, No. 3 seed Kaylan Bigun and No. 4 seed Cooper Woestendick lost a total of six games in their second round wins.  No. 2 seed Darwin Blanch received a walkover due to injury from Aryan Badlani. 

No. 32 seed Simon Caldwell, who reached the quarterfinals in the 16s division last year, played his first 18s match today, beating Aleksandar Andrin 6-1, 6-0. Caldwell, who lives less than an hour away in Grand Rapids, enjoys competing near home.

"I like to have home cooked meals and sleep in my own bed for this tournament," said Caldwell, who turned 17 last month. 

In addition to the comfort level that provides, Caldwell also can lean on the decades of expertise that his coach Tom Walker has at this event. Walker, who developed many Kalamazoo area players, including 2004 18s finalist Scott Oudsema, before purchasing the Grand Rapids Racquet and Fitness in 2017.

"Tom's a man of many words," Caldwell said. "He's a great coach and I love having him. The best piece of advice he's given me for being out here is to just enjoy it, enjoy every minute of playing. You only get so many years at this tournament, a very prestigious and amazing tournament, so just enjoy it, and play free."

The 16s played their first round of singles and doubles today, with the seeds taking the court in singles and doubles on Sunday. With so many matches Saturday after yesterday's cancellation of first round doubles, a late start due to wet courts and hot weather throughout the day, many first round 16s doubles matches are still on court as of 9 p.m.

The 18s do not play singles Sunday, but are scheduled for doubles, with the 16 seeded teams taking the court for the first time. 

My preview of the tournament for Tennis Recruiting Network can be found here.

At the Paris Olympics today, Rajeev Ram(Illinois) and Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) lost in the gold medal match today to Australians John Peers(Middle Tennessee, Baylor) and Matt Ebden 6-7(6), 7-6(1), 10-8. Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul won the bronze medal, beating Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.  For more on the USA men's Olympic medals, see this article from the USTA.

Qinwen Zheng of China won the women's singles gold medal, defeating Donna Vekic of Croatia 6-2, 6-3. Machac and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic won the mixed gold medal yesterday, beating Zhizhen Zhang and Xinyu Wang of China 6-2, 5-7, 10-8.

The women's doubles gold medal match between Diana Shnaider(NC State) and Mirra Andreeva of Russia and Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini is Sunday, as is the men's gold medal match between Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Carlos Alcaraz of Spain.