Davis Cup Stint Helps Exsted to Marathon Win, No. 2 Kumstat Upset at ITF J300 Bradenton; Few Surprises in 12s, 14s, 16s Divisions at IMG Intl; Faurel and Yaneva Claim Merida J500 Titles; Two ITF J100 Titles Last Week for Americans

©Colette Lewis 2024--
Bradenton FL--

Since moving his training to the Rafa Nadal Academy this summer, Max Exsted has had the opportunity to hit with the legendary founder half a dozen times. So while the No. 12 seed was grinding out a 2-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 win over  Nicolas Arseneault of Canada in just under three and a half hours in the first round of ITF J300 at IMG Academy, he had the inspiration of the 14-time Roland Garros champion to draw on.

"I hit with him maybe six times, this was before he played his last match, throughout the summer," the 17-year-old from Minnesota said. "It was an incredible experience to hit with him."

More recently, Exsted served as the practice partner for the US Davis Cup team in Malaga Spain, and that also gave him an opportunity to learn from the sport's top players.

"Being around Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Bob and Mike Bryan, take some pointers, that was really fun," Exsted said. "Everybody stayed in the same hotel, all the physios, the massage therapists, we were all eating together. I was practicing with the guys, after dinner we'd play cards, just being around them was fun. I'm just the little guy, I haven't made it yet or anything, and I was really blessed to be able to hit with them."

Exsted admitted there was some pressure in that situation, as he was expected to return some of the sport's best serves and stay in rallies with ATP Top 20 players. 

"I didn't want to make a bad impression, or have them think, 'what is this guy doing, he's not making anything,'" Exsted said. "Returning was definitely difficult, but I did my best and I was playing pretty good there."

Conditions for his match today were far from ideal, with temperatures in the low 50s and a swirling winds, but Exsted went into it knowing it was likely to be a long, physical battle. He and Arseneault had already met twice this year, with Exsted coming back from dropping the first set to win both matches, a pattern that continued today.

"The first set was not a great set for me," Exsted said. "In the second set, I started to find my rhythm, served at 5-3, but he saved a couple of set points and we ended up going to the breaker and I pulled that one out."

In the final set, Exsted got a break in the fifth game and managed to hold it, although he had to save a break point at 4-3 to keep the advantage. Arseneault held to force Exsted to serve it out, and given his hiccup in the second set, Exsted knew he needed a better finish.

"Every time you're in that position it's not going to be easy," Exsted said. "But I stayed calm, just tried to be solid but aggressive, move him around. I played a really good game, so I'm just really happy to fight this one out."

Exsted will play Niels McDonald of Germany in the second round Wednesday.

No. 2 seed Jan Kumstat of the Czech Republic was given the Stadium Court assignment, or rather his opponent, wild card Sasha Colleu of France was, as he trains at the IMG Academy. The 17-year-old Colleu was playing in only his second ITF J300 tournament, with the first coming last month in Mexico, but he looked much more comfortable than the 2024 Australian Open boys finalist while rolling to a 6-1, 6-1 upset. Colleu is 276 in the ITF rankings, while Kumstat, also 17, is currently No. 9.

Kumstat wasn't the only boys seed to fall today, with No. 10 Nathan Trouve of France losing to Haydar Gokpinar of Turkey 6-3, 6-4; No. 11 seed Ian Mayew falling to Daniil Sarksian of Russia 6-2, 7-6(5); and No. 13 seed Jan Klimas of the Czech Republic losing to Valentin Garay of Argentina 6-2, 6-2. 

Boys top seed Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic defeated wild card Keaton Hance 6-3, 6-3; girls top seed Teodora Kostovic of Serbia plays her first round match tomorrow against Marie Slamenikova of the Czech Republic.

Americans advancing to the second round today are wild card Abhishek Thorat, Dominick Mosejczuk, Jack Kennedy[9], Jagger Leach[5], wild card Ryan Cozad, wild card Ronit Karki, Ava Rodriguez, Shannon Lam[15], Capucine Jauffret, Maya Iyengar[7] and wild card Victoria Osuigwe.

The 27 remaining first round singles matches will be played Tuesday, followed by the first round of doubles. 

Jagger Leach and Great Britain's Oliver Bonding are the top seeds in boys doubles; sisters Alena and Jana Kovackova of the Czech Republic are the top seeds in doubles.

Matches are still in progress in the IMG Academy International Championships 14s and 16s divisions as of 9 p.m., but so far all the Top 5 seeds in the 12s, 14s, and 16s have advanced to the second round. First round matches in 16s will also be played Tuesday.

Draws with times can be found here. For a list of all seeds, see my post from Sunday. 

The ITF J500 in Merida Mexico concluded late Sunday night, with Thomas Faurel of France and Elizara Yaneva of Bulgaria taking the singles titles.

No. 8 seed Faurel defeated No. 4 seed Miguel Tobon of Colombia 6-3, 6-1 and Yaneva beat unseeded 15-year-old Luna Vujovic 6-4, 6-3. The 18-year-old Faurel, who didn't lose a set all week, moves up to No. 12 in the ITF junior rankings, which leaves him in excellent position to finish Top 20 and secure his entry into the ITF/ATP Accelerator Program. Yaneva, 17, moves to her career-high 15 in the ITF junior rankings; she is the No. 6 seed this week in Bradenton; Faurel is not playing in Bradenton this year.

Timofei Derepasko of Russia and Amir Omarkhanov of Kazakhstan won the boys doubles title in Mexico, with the No. 3 seeds beating top seeds Charlie Robertson of Great Britain and Petr Brunclik of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 in the final.

Top seeds Alena and Jana Kovackova won the girls doubles title, beating Victoria Barros of Brazil and Teodora Kostovic of Serbia 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

Two Americans captured ITF J100 titles last week, with Reiley Rhodes adding a J100 title in Peru to the J60 title she won two weeks ago there. The unseeded 15-year-old from Maryland defeated No. 4 seed Daniela Gonzalez of Peru 6-4, 6-3 in the final, running her streak of straight-sets wins in Peru to 10.

Sixteen-year-old Zavier Augustin won his second ITF Junior Circuit singles title at the J100 in France. The No. 4 seed defeated unseeded Simone Massellani of Italy 6-2, 6-0 in the final. Augustin and Michael Antonius reached the doubles final, with the No. 3 seeds falling to the unseeded team of Massellani and Raffaele Ciurnelli 6-1, 6-4.

Mrva, Kostovic Top Seeds at ITF J300 Bradenton, Ten Americans Qualify Sunday; IMG International Championships Seeds for 12s, 14s, 16s; United States Team Wins Fifth Straight Master'U International Collegiate Championships

©Colette Lewis 2024--

Bradenton FL--

The qualifying is complete and the draws are out for the ITF J300 Bradenton, with Maxim Mrva of the Czech Republic and 2023 finalist Teodora Kostovic of Serbia receiving the top seeds. Both were No. 1 seeds at this week's J500 in Merida Mexico and both lost early, so they should not be dealing with the frantic travel schedules after late night matches that come with deep runs in the Yucatan Cup. 

The first round of singles is split between Monday and Tuesday, with 37 matches on Monday's schedule and 27 on Tuesday, plus the entire first round of doubles.

ITF J300 Seeds:

Girls:

1. Teodora Kostovic(SRB)

2. Jana Kovackova(CZE)

3. Alena Kovackova(CZE)

4. Tereza Krejcova(CZE)

5. Julie Pastikova(CZE)

6. Elizara Yaneva(BUL)

7. Maya Iyengar(USA)

8. Reina Goto(JPN)

9. Luna Maria Cinalli(ARG)

10. Laima Vladson(LTU)

11. Kanon Sawashiro(JPN)

12. Yoana Konstantinova(BUL)

13. Nellie Taraba Wallberg(SWE)

14. Deniz Dilek(TUR)

15. Shannon Lam(USA)

16. Sol Ailin Larraya Guidi(ARG)

Boys:

1. Maxim Mrva(CZE)

2. Jan Kumstat(CZE)

3. Hoyoung Roh(KOR)

4. Oliver Bonding(GBR)

5. Jagger Leach(USA)

6. Amir Omarkhanov(KAZ)

7. Oskari Paldanius(FIN)

8. Henry Bernet(SUI)

9. Jack Kennedy(USA)

10. Nathan Trouve(FRA)

11. Ian Mayew(USA)

12. Maxwell Exsted(USA)

13. Jan Klimas(CZE)

14. William Rejchtman Vinciguerra(SWE)

15. Timofei Derepasko(RUS)

16. Andres Santamarta Roig(ESP)

The United States will have 22 boys and 18 girls in the main draw, after a successful final day of qualifying, with six of the eight boys  four of the eight girls qualifiers from the USA. All the players listed below won two matches today to reach the main draw.

Mikael Arseneault(CAN)

Joaquin Blanco(USA)

Nischal Spurling(USA)

Jacob Olar(USA)

Jack Satterfield(USA)

Gus Grumet(USA)

Nathan Blokhin(USA)

Rafael Botran Neutze(GUA)

Zaire Clarke(USA)

Brooke Wallman(USA)

Anna Perelman(RUS)

Kristina Liutova(RUS)

Ireland O'Brien(USA)

Addison Comiskey(CAN)

Kayla Moore(USA)

Havana Kadi(CAN)

Three lucky losers also received entry:

Anastasia Pleskun(USA)

Francisco Castro(ECU)

Allan Gatoto(BDI)

Gatoto, the No. 9 qualifying seed, was beaten in the final round of qualifying this afternoon by 18-year-old Floridian Nathan Blokhin 6-2, 6-4. Blokhin, who has been concentrating on his application to Harvard the past few months, prepared for his last two ITF junior tournaments with a training block that paid dividends today.

"The last few weeks I've been running at 5 a.m. with my friend, then three hours training 7 to 10, and then we go back at 1:15 for another hour, so it's not too bad if you're doing that in practice, this is actually kind of easier, other than the nerves," said Blokhin, the younger brother of Stanford junior Alexis Blokhina. "You obviously get a little more tired, but I still feel good right now, I'm ready to play a third match."

Blokhin trains regularly with Marcus Fluitt at the Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation, but prepared for these tournaments at the Sanchez Casal Academy.

"I did a good block there because my parents were traveling and Sanchez Casal has dorming there so it was easier. That was the last two weeks," Blokhin said. 

After a long wait to get on court for his first match Saturday, Blokhin saw his level improve with each subsequent match.

"I'm definitely getting better match by match," Blokhin said. "I played good in the first round, but it was off and on. Today, this morning, it was pretty solid throughout and just now I think I played really well, without a lot of dips in the level. The guy(Gatoto) was pretty big, serving well, so I couldn't afford to give him any lackluster service games. I tried to stay locked in and yeah, I'd say I'm playing pretty good, some of my best level. I think I was broken only once or twice."

Blokhin said he is in the late stages of the admissions process at Harvard.

"I recently committed," Blokhin said.  "I'm going through admissions right now, I'm towards the end. I got my Common App, I did my interviews, so it's looking good and I should know pretty soon."

Blokhin qualified for the ITF J300 in Repentigny Canada at the end of August, which was his last ITF Junior Circuit event.

"I haven't been playing too much, studying for the SAT a little bit, doing a lot school, playing UTRs near my house, so I'm excited to get out here and do well on the ITF tour."

The draws are out for the 12s, 14s and 16s division of the IMG Academy International Tennis Championships this week. Below are the seeds including their countries, which is a tough trove of information to assemble.

The USTA tournament site is having technical problems, but the draws can be accessed via pdfs on the Overview tab.

B12s Seeds:

1. Ethan Jake Frans(INA)

2. Novak Palombo(AUS)

3. Daniel Gardality(USA)

4. Cavan Donnelly(USA)

5. Aleksandr Kharkov(USA)

6. Reita Yamanaka(USA)

7. Sebastian Lavorato(AUS)

8. Camelot Carnello(USA)

9. Christan Pohoski(USA)

10. Liam Dent(USA)

11. Michael Rybak(USA)

12. Koo Ming Kevin Leung(HKG)

13. Max D Smith(USA)

14. Ethan Cyrus(USA)

15. Evaan Mohan(USA)

16. Patrick Paun(USA)

B14s Seeds:

1. Ethan Domingo(AUS)

2. Gadin Arun(USA)

3. Rafalentino Dacosta(USA)

4. Danill Bererzin(USA)

5. Lucas Han(AUS)

6. Tabb Tuck(USA)

7. Qi Hongjin(CHN)

8. Dharma Pantaratom(THA)

9. Anurag Shourya Kallambella(INA)

10. Heaton Pann(AUS)

11. Wu Junze(CHN)

12. Jang Junseo(KOR)

13. Carter Jauffret(USA)

14. Victor Pignaton(USA)

15. Hruthik Katakam(INA)

16. Har Abir Sekhon(AUS)

B16 Seeds:

1. Jordan Lee(USA)

2. Jerrid Gaines Jr(USA)

3. Luis Andres Flores Avila(MEX)

4. Emilio Camacho(ECU)

5. Maksim Nekrasov(RUS)

6. Agassi Rusher(USA)

7. William Zhang(USA)

8. Felix Triquart(GER)

9. Matthew Shapiro(USA)

10. Lucas Smith(USA)

11. Mason Vaughan(USA)

12. Achyuth Binu(USA)

13. Anthony Dry(USA)

14. Joshua Adamson(CAN)

15. Maddox Bose(USA)

16. Samim Filiz(TUR)

G12 Seeds:

1. Nikol Davletshina(USA)

2. Shina Okuyama(JPN)

3. Lucy Dupere(USA)

4. Seohyeon Kim(KOR)

5. Jacqueline Nick(USA)

6. Christina Li(USA)

7. Inie Toll(USA)

8. Agneshka Markina(USA)

9. Ana Maric(AUS)

10. Srishti Kiran(INA)

11. Aimee Peng(USA)

12. Shangran Cai(CHN)

13. Emilia Henningsen(DEN)

14. Mia Fedus(USA)

15. Cataleya Brown(USA)

16. Ayul Kim(KOR)

G14 Seeds:

1. Tea Kovacevic(BIH)

2. Baotong Xu(CHN)

3. Sofia Bielinska(UKR)

4. Sim Siyeon(KOR)

5. Camilla Kostik(USA)

6. Jiayi Lu(CHN)

7. Jinling Shi(CHN)

8. Alisa Terentyeva(RUS)

9. Vibha Gogineni(USA)

10. Sakino Miyazawa(JPN)

11. Emilie Chen(CAN)

12. Sara Park(USA)

13. Jiali Dong(CHN)

14. Tori Russell(AUS)

15. Maria Valentina Pop(ROU)

16. Anna Scott Laney(USA)

G16 Seeds:

1. Aisha Bisht(USA)

2. Isabelle DeLuccia(USA)

3. Olivia Traynor(USA)

4. Kennedy Dresner-Hagmann(USA)

5. Lyla Kessler(USA)

6. Paige Wygodski(USA)

7. Katerina Shabashkevich(USA)

8. Alyson Shannon(USA)

9. Ariana Ikwueme(USA)

10. Londyn Mccord(USA)

11. Yui Watanabe(USA)

12. Hanne Estrada(MEX)

13. Ahniya Vustsina(USA)

14. Tanika Saravanan(USA)

15. Delaney Letzel(USA)

16. Alanna Ingalsbe(USA)

The United States team won its fifth straight Master'U BNP Paribas international collegiate team competition today in France, beating Great Britain 4-1. Gavin Young(Michigan), Sebastian Gorzny(Texas), Michael Zheng(Columbia), Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M), Amelia Honer(UC-Santa Barbara) and Savannah Broadus(Pepperdine) defeated Germany 4-1 in the quarterfinals, and France 4-1 in the semifinals in the three-day event in Riems. 

For more on the final, see this article from Tennis Recruiting Network, with comments from Gorzny and Young, who clinched the win in doubles.