Seeds Perfect in 18s Second Round Action at Kalamazoo Nationals; McNally and Gauff Win Citi Open Doubles Title; Arconada and Dolehide Claim Pan Am Doubles Gold, Dolehide in Singles Final

©Colette Lewis 2019--
Kalamazoo MI--

It was a coin flip as to what was more perfect on Day 2 of the USTA Boys National Championships: the weather or the 18s seeds. With cloudless skies, low humidity, and mild temperatures the weather couldn't have been better, but then, neither could the seeds, with 31 of the top 32 seeds in the 18s division advancing to Monday's third round of singles. The sole seed who did not advance? No. 17, who withdrew prior to the start of the tournament.

The top 16 seeds didn't lose so much as a set, with No. 1 Brandon Nakashima beating Jacob Mitchell 6-2, 6-0 and No. 2 seed Martin Damm overcoming a bit of a slow start to beat Derek Hsieh 6-3, 6-1. An upset appeared to be in the making when No. 3 seed Toby Kodat fell behind two breaks at 3-0 and 4-1 in the first set against Karl Lee, but he won the next five games to take the set and led throughout the second set for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

"He started out really well, not missing a ball, playing very solid," said Kodat, who was making his Kalamazoo debut today. "I came out there and just wasn't ready for his game, started out really slow."

Kodat said he made an adjustment that contributed to his turnaround.

"I got my focus back and switched up my game style a little bit," Kodat said. "I knew I had to stay consistent, and wait for my opportunity. I was rushing, hitting too risky shots, not playing smart. It wasn't my best performance, that's for sure, but I got through it."

Kodat had heard good things about Kalamazoo from his friend Damm, who won the 16s title last year; the two train together daily at the IMG Academy and partner in doubles often, including this week.

"It's a nice tournament, lots and lots of kids here, big draw," Kodat said. "It's a nice site, lots of places around, beautiful weather, the courts are great, yeah, it's good."

No. 4 seed Cannon Kingsley also got off to a little bit of a slow start, but the Ohio State freshman rebounded quickly for a 6-3, 6-1 win over Henry Lovett.

The first round of 16s singles were played today, with 8 of the 32 alphabetically seeded 33 seeds sent to the backdraw. The top 32 seeds began play on Sunday, with No. 1 seed Alexander Bernard, No. 2 seed Luke Casper, No. 3 seed Samir Banerjee and No. 4 seed Aidan Mayo all scheduled to play at Stowe Stadium Sunday morning. The top half of the 16s doubles draw played their first round matches today; the bottom half will play their first round doubles matches Sunday. The 18s do not play singles on Sunday, but their third round of doubles matches is scheduled to begin at 5:00 p.m. and Western Michigan and Stowe Stadium.

For the complete draws, Sunday's schedule (found under the Players tab) and a link to the live stream coverage of five courts, see ustaboys.com.

Caty McNally fell in the semifinals of the Citi Open today to Camilla Giorgi of Italy 7-6(5), 6-2, ending her impressive singles run at the WTA International event. Giorgi will face Jessica Pegula, who reached the second WTA final of her career today by defeating qualifier Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

But McNally left Washington DC a champion, with Coco Gauff, as the 17-year-old and 15-year-old wild card team won the doubles title this evening. Gauff and McNally defeated Maria Sanchez and Fanny Stollar of Hungary 6-2, 6-2 to claim their fourth consecutive straight-sets victory and their first WTA doubles title.

Top seeds Usue Arconada and Caroline Dolehide won the gold medal at the Pan American Games in Peru today, defeating unseeded Veronica Cepede Royg and Montserrat Gonzalez of Paraguay 6-0, 6-4 in the final. Dolehide, the No. 4 seed, will play for the singles gold medal on Sunday after defeating unseeded Carolina Alves of Brazil 7-6(5), 6-2. Dolehide will face No. 7 seed Nadia Podoroska of Argentina, who beat top seed Cepede Royg 6-3, 6-4.

Jenson Brooksby, who last year at this time was starting his run to the Kalamazoo 18s title, has now won nine consecutive matches in $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournaments, reaching the final in Decatur Illinois after claiming the title last week in Champaign-Urbana. Brooksby, seeded 3, defeated unseeded Hady Habib(Texas A&M) of Lebanon 6-3, 6-2 and will face No. 7 seed Santiago Rodriguez Taverna of Argentina for the title. Rodriguez Taverna defeated Christian Langmo(Miami) 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(6) in the other semifinal.  Axel Geller(Stanford) of Argentina and Juan Carlos Aguilar(Texas A&M) of Bolivia won the Decatur doubles title, beating Rodriguez Taverna and Alan Kohen of Argentina 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

At the women's $25,000 tournament in Fort Worth, No. 2 seed Catherine Harrison will face former UCLA teammate Chanelle Van Nguyen in the singles final. Harrison defeated Alexa Glatch 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 and Van Nguyen, a lucky loser, defeated Lorraine Guillermo(Pepperdine) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3.

At the $60,000 women's tournament in Lexington Kentucky, No. 2 seed Ann Li beat another UCLA teammate of Van Nguyen's and Harrison's, No. 3 seed Robin Anderson, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the final. Li, who turned 19 in June, will play qualifier Kim Dabin of Korea in the final.  Anderson did avenge her singles loss to Li in the doubles final, with partner Jessika Ponchet of France. The No. 3 seeds beat Li and Jamie Loeb(UNC) 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 10-7 in the final.

At the ATP Challenger 80 in Lexington, Martin Redlicki(UCLA) and Diego Hidalgo(Florida) won the doubles title, a first Challenger title for both. The unseeded pair defeated top seeds Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M) and Roberto Maytin(Baylor) of Venezuela 6-2, 6-2 in the final.