JTCC's Pedraza Saves Two Match Points to Qualify for ITF J300 College Park; Forty Americans to Compete in US Open Qualifying; Tien Qualifies for ATP Winston-Salem

©Colette Lewis 2024--
College Park MD--

Sunday's final rounds of qualifying began at 9 a.m. and ended at 8 p.m., with six boys and six girls winning two matches to make the main draw of the ITF J300 in College Park. They'll have little time to savor those wins or recover from them, with their first round matches scheduled for Monday.

The only unseeded boys qualifier was one of JTCC's own, 15-year-old Nicolas Pedraza, who saved two match points in his 6-7(5), 6-3, 15-13 win over No. 6 seed Lachlan Gaskell.

Pedraza led 5-1, 7-2 and 8-4 in the match tiebreaker, but lost four consecutive points before earning his first match point at 9-8, on Gaskell's serve. Pedraza missed a return, earned a second match pont at 10-9, but missed a forehand, and Gaskell earned his first match point, when Pedraza didn't make a play on a forehand pass from Gaskell that dropped well in. Gaskell made a unforced error on the backhand to squander that match point, but made a exquisite backhand volley winner to earn his second. 

Pedraza saved that with a good drop shot, with Gaskell getting to it, but sending his reply long. Pedraza hit a good first serve to earn his third match point, but Pedraza's slice floated long and it was even again, at 13. Pedraza earned his fourth match point with a sizzling forehand winner and converted when his deep first serve put Gaskell on the defensive and Pedraza hit another good forehand, forcing an error from Gaskell.

"I was definitely really nervous when it came to those match points that he had and I had," said Pedraza, who had beaten Carter Jauffret 6-1, 6-1 in his second round qualifying match in the morning. "I just stayed composed, he came up with some errors and I'm very grateful that I came out on top."

Pedraza recognized that his level dropped once he took the big leads in the tiebreaker.

"I was cruising, hitting really good shots, coming to the net, perfect tennis you could say," Pedraza said. "As soon as it started getting close I started going for too much. I kind of slowed it down at 9-8, and I think from there, it was just who wanted it more, who could stay focused."

Although Pedraza's drop shot attempts in the tiebreaker often didn't pan out, save that last crucial one, he was determined to employ them when he saw an opportunity.

"For me, that's a shot I use all the time, so it wasn't really that at that moment I was feeling the pressure," Pedraza said. "He didn't really like coming to the net and I sensed that, so I thought if he didn't want to be at the net I could pass him, lob him."

As a large contingent of fellow JTCC players were gathered around court 18 to encourage him, Pedraza was surrounded by familiar faces.

"Because I train here, everybody's so great, everybody came out to support," said Pedraza, who started at JTCC as a toddler and is competing in the tournament for the first time this year. "Everybody was there supporting me and I just felt at home. It's always been a dream of mine to play here and it's a great, great experience to play in front of my home."

Pedraza admitted that he didn't expect to qualify.

"I'm super surprised, I wasn't expecting that much," Pedraza said. "Kalamazoo didn't go too well and I just wanted to hope for the best and compete. But I'm always ready, physically and mentally, I live close, I have everything I need from my coaches and my parents. I've been here my entire life, I know the place inside and out, every person here and I had a great, great time on court today."

Top seed Cesar Cruz of El Salvador spent over six and a half hours on court, but managed to get through. He will find out if that effort depleted him physically on Monday, when he plays Ludvig Hede of Sweden, not before 10 a.m.

The other boys qualifiers are Zachary Cohen, Calvin Baierl, Yubel Ubri and Mikael Arsenenault of Canada.

The girls qualifying are Raphaelle Leroux of Canada, Adla Lopez, Kristina Liutova of Russia, Eva Oxford, Brooke Wallman and Jinshu Xia of China.

US Open qualifying begins Monday with 18 of the 40 Americans in the men's and women's draw scheduled to play their first round matches.

Women playing Monday are wild cards Clervie Ngounoue, Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), Kristina Penickova, Valerie Glozman(Stanford), Akasha Urhobo and Maria Mateas, Louisa Chirico, Emina Bektas(Michigan), Hannah Chang, Alycia Parks, Varvara Lepchenko, Usue Arconada and Sachia Vickery.

Men playing Monday are wild cards Ethan Quinn and Eliot Spizzirri and Martin Damm, Tristan Boyer and Denis Kudla.

Monday's schedule is here. All matches are available on ESPN+.

Eighteen-year-old Learner Tien(USC) qualified for his first ATP main draw today in Winston-Salem, defeating wild card DK Suresh(Wake Forest) of India 6-3, 6-4. He will play fellow qualifier Tristan Schoolkate of Australia in the first round Monday.