Rain Delays Completion of First Round at US Open Junior Championships; Nava Prevails in Third Set Tiebreaker; Qualifier Mayo Takes Out No. 12 Seed; No. 2 GIrls Seed Parry Falls

©Colette Lewis 2019--
Flushing Meadows, NY--

Rain arrived at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center just as the second day of US Open Junior Championships matches were about to begin Monday, and with a second three-hour delay later in the afternoon, 16 of the 42 first round matches were cancelled and will be played Tuesday.

No. 8 seed Emilio Nava was scheduled to play on show court 5 but was moved after the first delay to Court 15. But given what had happened with the draw on Saturday, that was a minor disruption.

Nava, who did not enter the tournament due to his oblique injury in late junior, was given a wild card, and when he was drawn to face top seed and Wimbledon champion Shintaro Mochizuki of Japan, Nava thought the wild card might have been the reason he wasn't seeded, despite his ranking of No. 9 in the ITF Junior Circuit rankings.

"I thought maybe they don't seed wild cards," said Nava, who went to bed Saturday night thinking he was playing Mochizuki. "I thought, ok, I'll play Shintaro no doubt, definitely. This is my last slam, let's go out there and have fun, maybe I'll beat him."

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, the error of not seeding Nava was rectified, and Nava learned that he would instead play Nicolas Alvarez Navarro of Spain, on Monday.

Nava came out playing well, but the match came down to just a few points at at the end, with Nava earning a 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(6) victory.

After losing his 4-3 lead in the final set, Nava held down 4-5 and 5-6 to force the tiebreaker. Nava's 3-1 lead in the tiebreaker didn't last, and Alvarez went up 5-4 with a good first serve, but Nava raised his level at the crucial time, hitting two good first serves to take a 6-5 lead. Nava failed to get a second serve return in play on his first match point, but he earned another with a clutch backhand pass. With the match on his racquet, Nava decided against going for a big flat serve, and his off-speed delivery surprised Alvarez, who couldn't get the return in play.

"It was just get the first serve in, put a little pressure on him," said Nava. "Make him think like a big serve is coming, slow it down a little bit, get in his head maybe and he ended up missing it."

Nava believes his injury has helped him relax a big in pressure situations, and although he lost in the second round of the Grade 1 in Canada last week after a first round bye, he wasn't disappointed and was confident coming into New York.

"I'm feeling fine, but it was my first tournament in two, two-and-a-half months," said Nava, who reached the final of the Australian Open in January. "I got a little tired, but it's normal, you know. So I just looked at it in a positive way, that I competed really hard and that I'm healthy. That was huge. Maybe the day after I felt a little sore, but I can tell the difference between sore and pain so it was fine, I was really happy about that."

Nava admits to some expectations for this event despite his layoff.

"Maybe a little bit, because the last hard court grand slam I did pretty well," the 17-year-old Southern Californian said. "But I have to take myself back to, you just had an injury, you don't want to push everything too hard, don't want to get too nervous."

While Nava has been short on match play recently, the opposite is true for 16-year-old Aidan Mayo, who reached the 16s final at Kalamazoo, reached the third round at the Grade 1 at College Park two weeks ago and qualified for his first junior slam after receiving a wild card.

And despite three delays due to rain, Mayo continued his streak of impressive results, beating No. 12 seed Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan 6-4, 7-5.

After waiting three hours to take the court, Mayo led 3-1 when a brief rain delay disrupted play.

"I was up 3-0 in the beginning, then had a tough game and it went to 3-1 and it started raining," Mayo said. "I was playing very well and maybe he came out a little tight. We stopped for around 13 minutes and he came out a lot stronger, and I kind of lost my energy a little bit. He won four games in a row, but then I got the break back and that's when it rained."

Another three-hour delay was less problematic for Mayo, who has gained confidence from his recent results.

"Getting through qualies gave me a lot of confidence," said Mayo. "It's my first slam, so I needed a little time to acclimate. I feeling good, feeling my fitness is pretty good, my body's feeling pretty good. I think I'm good enough, playing well enough, to take out just about anybody here, so it's just about my body and my mental. But I'm feeling good out there."

No. 2 seed Diane Parry of France was beaten by Marta Custic of Spain 6-4, 7-6(4) and No. 2 seed Holger Rune of Denmark barely escaped the challenge presented by qualifier Cash Hanzlik, with Rune, the French Open champion, earning a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(5) victory.

The weather forecast for Tuesday is excellent, so the 16 remaining first round matches will be completed, 16 second round matches will be played and all first round doubles matches are also on the schedule.

First round results for American juniors Monday:
Katie Volynets v Carole Monnet(FRA) (postponed from Sunday, then cancelled Mon)
Gabriella Price[WC] d. Helene Pellicano(MLT) 7-5, 4-6, 6-2
Abigail Forbes[13] v Ane Mitegi Del Olmo(ESP) (cancelled)
Ellie Coleman[WC] v Sohyun Park[12](KOR) (cancelled)
Mai Nirundorn(THA) d. Hurricane Tyra Black[8] 1-6, 5-2 ret.
Reese Brantmeier[WC] d. Alexandra Vecic(GER) 6-1, 6-2
Priska Nugroho(INA) d. Skyler Grishuk[Q] 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
Elina Kalieva[Q] v Maria Timofeeva(RUS)(cancelled)
Robin Montgomery d. Carol Lee[Q](NMI 6-2, 7-5
Savannah Broadus d. Mell Reasco Gonzalez(ECU) 6-2, 6-2
Alexandra Yepifanova[Q] v Sada Nahimana[9](BDI) (cancelled)
Charlotte Chavatipon[WC] v Ana Geller[Q](ARG)(cancelled)

Emilio Nava[8] d. Nicolas Alvarez Navarro(ESP) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(6)
Jonas Forejtek[4](CZE) d. Zachary Svajda[WC] 6-3, 6-3
Brandon Nakashima[11] d. Kyrian Jacquet(FRA) 6-3, 6-1
Govind Nanda v Eric Vanshelboim(UKR) (cancelled)
Holger Rune[2](DEN) d. Cash Hanzlik[Q] 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(5)
Will Grant[WC] v Natan Rodrigues[Q](BRA)(cancelled)
Alejo Lingua Lavallen(ARG) d. Blaise Bicknell[Q] 7-6(3), 6-3
Toby Kodat[6] v Olimjon Nabiev(UZB)(cancelled)
Aidan Mayo[Q] d. Shunsuke Mitsui[12](JPN) 6-4, 7-5
Valentin Royer[14](FRA) d. Leighton Allen[WC] 6-3, 7-6(6)

Tuesday's junior matches featuring Americans:
Toby Kodat[6] v Olimjon Nabiev(UZB)*
Will Grant[WC] v Natan Rodrigues[Q](BRA)*
Govind Nanda v Eric Vanshelboim(UKR)*
Katie Volynets v Carole Monnet(FRA)*
Abigail Forbes[13] v Ane Mitegi Del Olmo(ESP)*
Ellie Coleman[WC] v Sohyun Park[12](KOR)*
Elina Kalieva[Q] v Maria Timofeeva(RUS)*
Alexandra Yepifanova[Q] v Sada Nahimana[9](BDI)*
Charlotte Chavatipon[WC] v Ana Geller[Q](ARG)*
*first round

Emma Navarro[1] v Oksana Selekhmeteva(RUS)
Alexa Noel[3] v Aubane Droguet(FRA)
Robin Montgomery v Joanna Garland(TPE)
Gabby Price[WC] v Elsa Jacquemot[16](FRA)
Katrina Scott[WC] v Jessica Bouzas Maneiro(ESP)
Allura Zamarripa[WC] v Qinwen Zheng[5](CHN)

Martin Damm[3] v Rinky Hijikata(AUS)
Aidan Mayo[Q] v Juan Bautista Torres(ARG)
Cannon Kingsley v Thiago Tirante[5](ARG)
Emilio Nava[8] v Matteo Arnaldi(ITA)

Monday's women’s fourth round singles matches featuring Americans:
Bianca Andreescu[15](CAN) d. Taylor Townsend[Q] 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
Elise Mertens[25](BEL) d. Kristie Ahn[WC] 6-1, 6-1

Tuesday's women's quarterfinal match featuring American:
Serena Williams[8] v Wang Qiang[18](CHN)