B16s Second Seed Falls in First Round at USTA Winter National Championships; USTA Florida Takes Over Management of Crandon Park Tennis Facility

The first round of the USTA Winter National Championships is complete with only one major upset, in the boys 16s.  No. 2 seed and USTA Indoor Champion Eli Kaminiski lost to Rafael Bote 7-6(1), 6-2. Bote, who lives in Boca Raton but competes on the ITF Junior Circuit under the Canadian flag, reached the quarterfinals of the IMG Academy International Championships earlier this month.

As I mentioned Friday, Adelina Iftime, the IMG girls 16s champion, wasn't seeded. But in today's first round she defeated No. 11 seed Natalie Frisbie 6-3, 6-2.

All of the top 16 seeds in both the boys and girls 12s won their opening matches today.

Below is an update on the seeds after today's first round. The full draws for the 16s and 18s in Orlando is here; for the 12s and 14s in San Antonio, the draws are here.

B18s Orlando FL
1. Shaan Patel
2. Ronit Karki
3. Alexander Suhanitski
4. Jesse Yang
5. David Wu
6. Magnus Weng
7. William Freshwater
8. Dylan Varughese
9. Alex Borbiu
10. Gordon Gallagher
11. Zavier Augustin
12. Niko Klyachkin
13. Maksim Hristov (withdrew)
13. Noble Renfro
14. Anish Poojari (lost rd 1)
15. William McEwan
16. George Santalov (lost rd 1)

B16s Orlando FL

1. Daniel Malacek

2. Eli Kaminski (lost rd 1)

3. Lennart Hammargren

4. Rafael Lopez

5. Piotr Gradzki

6. Maxwell Paape

7. Ivan Rybak

8. Nikhil Bommaiah (lost rd 1)

9. Nile Ung

10. Antanas Daugis

11. Simon Hayal

12. Zesen Wang

13. Joshua Dolinski

14. Ryan Corcoran (lost rd 1)

15. Luca Sevim (lost rd 1)

16. Maddox Iliescu (lost rd 1)

B14s San Antonio TX

1. Sebastian Zavala

2. Jiarui Zhang

3. Andres Quijada

4. Jacques Chen

5. Kamden Harden

6. Tanmay Konduri

7. Pranav Vignesh

8. Daniel Gardality (lost rd 1)

9. Andy Wu

10. Warren Lam

11. Tony Xu

12. Ambrose Alexander

13. Rex Kulman

14. Cavan Donnelly (lost rd 1)

15. Jason Zhao

16. Sohith Tella

B12s San Antonio TX

1. Dmitriy Flyam

2. William Zhang

3. Jackson Ansbach

4. William Zhang

5. Tomas Giraldo

6. David Benedict

7. Aaron Peng

8. Vihaan MeReddy

9. Miguel Valencia

10. Sanath Anand

11. Aiden Lee

12. Zephyr Zwicker

13. Ransom Conway

14. Jesse Goldman

15. Zachary Burunov

16. Ethan Kim

G18s Orlando FL

1. Carlota Moreno

2. Calla McGill

3. Carrie-Anne Hoo

4. Ellery Mendell

5. Valerie Shu

6. Catherine Rennard

7. Alyson Shannon

8. Kenzie Nguyen

9. Lauren Nolan

10. Alanna Ingalsbe

11. Lyla Messler

12. Samaya Smith

13. Natalie Kha

14. Sofia De Looze (lost rd 1)

15. Gabriella Davydov (lost rd 1)

16. Reiley Rhodes

G16s Orlando FL

1. Sylvana Jalbert

2. Shristi Selvan

3. Vanessa Kruse

4. Olivia Lin

5. Nikol Davletshina

6. Sofia Basto Cabrera

7. Blythe Sturman (withdrew)

8. Elle Groslimond

9. Evelynn Kwak

10. Meher Rao

11. Natalie Frisbie (lost rd 1)

12. Elana Zaretsky

13. Natasha Jerkunica

14. Alexa Mendoza (lost rd 1)

15. Michelle Lee

16. Heidi Polasek

G14s San Antonio TX

1. Ava Chua

2. Eleanor Armistead

3. Rebecca Wu

4. Kyndall Noel

5. Reese Ellingson

6. Oleana Zerres

7. Jessie Janiak

8. Roxanne Luu (lost rd 1)

9. Eugenia Alvarez

10. Christina Li

11. Alexandra Hu (lost rd 1)

12. Andrea Jakovljevic

13. Natalia Martinez

14. Lucy Dupere (withdrew)

15. Beatrice Bizzieri

16. Mia Sandblom

G12s San Antonio TX

1. Anna Sandru

2. Mary Podkhyneychenko

3. Summer Yang

4. Valentina Singh Carvajal

5. Chloe Anthony

6. Maya Laddin

7. Grace Malhotra

8. Cathryn Chartrand

9. Lola Looney

10. Vihana Thasen

11. Ranvi Reddy

12. Reya Mahadoo

13. Luca Jiang

14. Audrey Yang

15. Lailah Cowgill

16. Catherine Chan

Last Tuesday, the USTA Florida section announced it would be taking over the operation of the tennis facility at Crandon Park in Miami-Dade County.  For many years the home of the ATP/WTA Miami Masters, the facility has not had any major events since the tournament moved to the Hard Rock Stadium. The Junior Orange Bowl has played at the site for many years, but when I went out to watch matches there, it was obvious that maintenance had been deferred and the facility was showing its age.

USTA Florida has a one-year permit to operate the facility, which begins January 16th.

“We are excited to partner with Miami-Dade County to provide full operational services that will facilitate greater access to the tennis courts and programs. Crandon Tennis Center is an important hub for Florida Tennis. We are committed to embracing everyone who wishes to play at this historic site,” added Laura Bowen, executive director of USTA Florida.

For more details on the programs and staffing, see this from the USTA Florida website.