Kalamazoo's No. 1 Seeds Both Drop Second Set Tiebreakers, but Move into Round of 16; Gaines Saves Match Point, Rallies to Beat Konduri; Rain Sends Four 16s Matches Indoors; Tien, Shelton and Nakashima Reach Montreal ATP Masters Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--

Kamil Stolarczyk and Jack Kennedy have been regular fixtures on George Acker Center Court during the past four days at the USTA Boys 18s and 16s National Championships, and today their fourth round wins were nearly carbon copies, although Stolarczyk played in the morning, before the rain arrived, while Kennedy had his match disrupted then finished Tuesday evening.

With rain arriving at 1 p.m., the four 16s fourth round matches still in progress were moved a block away, to Kalamazoo College's Markin Tennis Center.

It figured that the four matches that were not finished were among the closest ones, although Stolarczyk was fortunate his three-hour 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2 victory over No. 21 seed Aayush Vartak started at 9 a.m., allowing him to finish an hour before the rain arrived.

The most precarious situation of those four matches saw No. 33 seed Zachary Szymanski leading No. 29 seed Antanas Daugis 4-3 in a third set tiebreaker when play was suspended. Szymanski had won the first set 6-4, with Daugis taking the second 6-2.

Daugis had had three match points with Szymanski serving at 4-5, 0-40 but didn't convert, surely cursing those missed opportunities when Szymanski went up 6-4 in the final tiebreaker once the match moved indoors. But Daugis kept coming back, saving seven match points in the tiebreaker, until he finally got to his first match point of the tiebreaker, and his fourth overall, at 12-11. A little bit of luck came his way, with Daugis's volley hitting the tape and dribbling over, putting him through to Wednesday's round of 16.

The only unseeded player remaining in either draw is George Ho, who won his fourth match of the week after trailing No. 25 seed Connor Feehan 7-5, 3-2 when the match moved indoors.

"I think if we didn't go indoors I probably would have lost that match, said the 16-year-old from Honolulu. "The rallies were just so grueling and slow outdoors, and as soon as we got indoors I was able to use my forehand a little bit more, really get inside the court and start attacking."

With only outdoor hard courts to practice and compete on in Hawaii, indoor tennis might appear to be uncomfortable to him, Ho said that's not the case.

"It's maybe my third or fourth time indoors," Ho said. "There's no indoor courts in Hawaii, no clay courts, only outdoor hard. But the Hawaii courts are kind of beat down, so they're very fast and very smooth. So it wasn't like going indoors was completely foreign to me, and it was a great match."

Ho, who has played one more match than everyone else left in the main draw, said that three-set win set him on the path to the round of 16.

"That kind of set the tone for the tournament," said Ho, who is coached by Dan Pollock. "I realized there's no free matches out here, guys aren't just going to miss, you've got to work for every single point. I'm just so happy to have carried that momentum through to the round of 16."

Ho will face No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed, who defeated unseeded Alexander Lerman 6-4, 6-2 outdoors this morning. 

"I've seen him play about a minute of his match on center court, but I know nothing about him," Ho said. "I do know he has a one-hander, which I'm excited to play against. It's a great experience, win or lose and I get another match with a super high-quality opponent."

The biggest upset of the day was Leonard Hammargren's 6-4, 6-3 win over No. 8 seed Gadin Arun.  Hammargren had a three-hour and 21-minute 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) win in the third round over No. 33 Eita Mishima at Western Michigan Monday, so he wasn't sure how he would hold up today.

"Yesterday I had played a four-hour match so I was just hoping to go out there and grind it out," said the 16-year-old from Boca Raton Florida. "So I was trying to stay just physically good out there the entire time. And I actually felt great, with the adrenaline running, toward the middle I didn't feel anything at all, I was just cruising."

Although he in control, Hammargren said the score was deceptive. "It was definitely not routine, a lot tighter than the score was. He's a great player, but he didn't play as well as I've seen him play before."

The 16s completed their schedule at 3 p.m., but the 18s had three more hours of waiting for the rain to stop and courts to dry before they could get on court. Five matches, including  Kennedy's match with No. 33 seed Michael Lorenzetti were in progress at Stowe, but with limited daylight and not all of Stowe's courts lighted, five matches were sent to Western Michigan University.

Those matches, none of which had started before the rain, all ended quickly, with No. 2 seed Michael Antonius beating Connor Plunkett 6-0, 6-1 and No. 6 seed and Wimbledon boys champion Jordan Lee defeating No. 19 seed Teodor Davidov 6-4, 6-4 in a rematch of the 2021 Eddie Herr 12s final.

Back at Stowe, Kennedy returned to Acker Center Court at 6 p.m. with a 5-2 lead and finished off the first set, but Lorenzetti fought back from 2-0 down in the second, and saved three match points to take the second set tiebreaker 11 points to 9. But after the 10-minute break, Kennedy returned with renewed conviction and jumped out to a 5-0 lead before ultimately claiming a 6-2, 6-7(9), 6-1 win.

The other three-setter at Stowe Stadium Tuesday evening was the match that junior tennis fans had circled when the draw came out, with No. 11 seed Tanishk Konduri facing No. 17 seed Jerrid Gaines Junior.  All the promise that match held didn't look like it would materialize when Konduri took a 5-2 lead in the opening set, and then, after the five-hour delay, immediately dropped serve to lose the set. 

But Gaines was not ready to concede, taking the second set 6-4.

Konduri served for the match at 5-3 in the third set, but didn't get to match point after Gaines had saved one on his serve down 2-5 in the third, after double faulting at 30-all.

"I don't know if it was nerves,"  the 17-year-old from Palmetto Florida said of his double fault. "Mistakes are going to happen, but the intention was correct on that second serve, I just missed it by a little bit, caught the top of the net. So I didn't focus on that just focused on the next point, played a good point, hit a winner forehand cross, it was a shorter ball and I did what I had to do. I don't think he did anything wrong, players just come up with stuff and I managed to come with the goods in big moments."

That reminded Gaines of last year's round of 32 match in the 16s against Rowan Qalbani, when he also saved a match point.

"I thought of that, actually," said Gaines, who went on to win the bronze ball. "If I could do it then, I could do it again. Whenever I see Rowan, we still joke about it. It wasn't like he played a bad point then either; things just happen."

Gaines broke Konduri in that 5-3 game, held easily. then broke Konduri with a backhand volley winner setting up break point and Konduri netting a forehand early in the rally to make it 6-5 Gaines.

Gaines, who has a first serve that produces a sound that you don't often hear at a junior tournament, hit two of his eight aces to start off the game, and got an error from Konduri to set up three match points. Konduri saved the first with a drop voley, but Gaines won the second match point when Konduri netted a backhand.

"That (first serve) is definitely going to be part of my game," Gaines said. "We both have good serves, and it was a high level."

Gaines will play Kennedy in the round of 16 Wednesday, and Gaines admitted that he knew the draw had put him in Kennedy's section. 

"That's why I'm here, that's why I come to these tournaments, to play matches like that," said Gaines, who lost to Kennedy in three sets in the second round of the M15 in Boca Raton this spring, which Kennedy went on to win. "I'm definitely looking forward to it, bringing the same mindset to every match. I've learned a lot this year."

Although most of the round of 16 matches provide some intrigue, the Kennedy-Gaines match could be rivaled by the rematch of last year's 16s final between Andy Johnson, the No. 3 seed, and Marcel Latak, the No. 16 seed this year. Latak, who came from 5-1 down in the third set of that final, had the easier of the two fourth round matches, beating unseeded Justin Zhang 6-3, 6-2, while Johnson needed two hours to get past No. 20 seed Safir Azam 7-6(5), 6-2.

All main draws matches in singles and doubles are at Stowe Stadium on Wednesday, with the forecast still showing some chance of rain early in the day.

Live streaming is here, and live scoring is provided by iOnCourt. 

At the USTA Girls 18s and 16s National Championships in San Diego, the 18s third round is still not complete, but there was one notable upset, with No. 5 seed Kristina Penickova dropping a 7-6(3), 0-6, 6-2 decision to No. 33 seed Nancy Lee. Top seed Julieta Pareja is through to the fourth round, as is No. 3 seed Thea Frodin and No. 4 seed Janae Preston.

As is the case with the B16s, the top four seeds have advanced to Wednesday's round of 16.

Three players who competed in Kalamazoo finals in the past ten years are through to the semifinals of the ATP Masters 1000 in Montreal, with defending champion Ben Shelton(Florida), the 2021 18s finalist, facing two-time 18s champion Learner Tien(USC), who has reached his first Masters 1000 semifinal. Brandon Nakashima(Virginia), the 2017 16s champion, will play Rafael Jodar(Virginia) of Spain in the other semifinal.