Casper Defeats No. 4 Seed Quinn in Kalamazoo 18s; 16s Second Seed Van Loben Sels Eyes US Open Junior Wild Card; Girls 16s Semifinals Tuesday in San Diego; No. 2 Seed Scott Missing from Girls 18s Draw

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Kalamazoo MI--

Upsets have been rare the first three days of the USTA Boys 16s and 18s National Championships, but that changed Monday, when No. 4 seed Ethan Quinn was beaten on Stowe Stadium's Court 6 by Texas A&M incoming freshman Luke Casper 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. 

Casper, a No. 33 seed, had beaten Quinn at the beginning of the year at a Universal Tennis tournament in Southern California, so he knew what to expect.

"We're both from Northern California; I played him in January, and it was a similar match," said Casper, who turns 19 in December. "I barely won in three sets. But after that he really went up, so I knew he'd gotten better and I knew I needed to up my game too. I knew I needed to be at my top level, and I was able to play really well today."

Casper identified his on-court attitude as one of the best parts of his game.

"I'll compete until the very last point," said Casper, who reached the semifinals of the Clay Court Championships last month. "What I really liked today, I never gave up; there were times I was down, and I had to break his serve, and it's really hard to do that, Ethan has a massive serve. But I was able to get it done by competing so hard."

Casper knew his return was key and he executed that strategy well. 

"I had to not only get it back, but I had to place it well," said Casper, who heads to College Station shortly after Kalamazoo concludes. "Otherwise, he'd hit a winner off his forehand. It was really important for me to step up on his serve, get it early and place it well."

Casper will face No. 28 seed Colton Smith in the fourth round Tuesday.

The top three seeds in the boys 18s had no trouble advancing. Zachary Svajda defeated No. 33 seed Jelani Sarr 6-4, 6-4, No. 2 seed Martin Damm took care of Georgia redshirt freshman Thomas Paulsell 6-4, 6-2 and No. 3 seed Ben Shelton needed just 41 minutes to eliminate unseeded Mert Oral 6-0, 6-0.

Alexander Razeghi, the top seed in the 16s, has found his comfort zone, with the 15-year-old Texan cruising past No. 33 seed Aniketh Ayinala 6-0, 6-0 in 47 minutes. Razeghi closed out Gabe Avram 6-3, 6-0 in the second round, winning nine straight games in that match so he has now won 21 consecutive games at Stowe Stadium.

Razeghi led 5-0 when a light shower delayed play for about 45 minutes, but that break did nothing to slow his momentum. 

No. 2 seed Emon van Loben Sels has not had the same experience in his Kalamazoo debut, going three sets on Sunday against Alan Ton, but winning the third 6-0. Against Saahith Jayaraman today, van Loben Sels was tested, but came through in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.

"Alan and I are really good friends and I was pretty nervous going into that match, first round, Stadium here, everybody watching and it's my friend too," van Loben Sels said. "In the third set, I kind of got lucky with his cramping, and couldn't move too well, but I'm happy I got that done."

In today's match van Loben Sels again faced a friend, but he had Sunday's experience to draw on.

"It was better than yesterday for sure," said van Loben Sels, who turns 17 in December. "But I still have to get used to it a little more. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be here again, and I can get back to it."

Van Loben Sels said the US Open Junior Championships main draw wild card is one of his prime motivations.

"That's why I'm playing 16s here, so I can get that spot," said van Loben Sels."I don't play ITFs, so I can't get in through that, so it's the only opportunity I can get. This is my last one playing 16s, and I'll be playing all 18s after this."

No. 3 seed Learner Tien and No. 4 seed Lucas Brown also won in straight sets, with Tien beating Jose Garcia, a No. 33 seed, 6-0, 6-1 and Brown downing Emil Grantcharov, a No. 33 seed, 6-3, 6-0.

The only Top 8 seed to lose in the 16s today was No. 6 Ari Cotoulas, who lost to No. 33 seed Callum Markowitz 6-4, 6-2.

The second round of boys 16s doubles was played today at Western Michigan, with the top 16 seeds taking the courts for the first time. 

Brown and his partner Nico Godsick, the top seeds, won 6-2, 6-1 over Arnesh Singh and Meethre Barot. No. 2 seeds Cooper Woestendick and Quang Duong advanced to the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Tygen Goldammer and Humza Noor.

More rain is in the forecast for Tuesday, but should it miss Kalamazoo, the schedule has the fourth round of the main draw starting at 9 a.m. with 16s. The fourth round of 18s doubles and the third round of 16s doubles are also planned for Tuesday. 

Links to live streaming of the three show courts at Stowe Stadium can be found here. For information on who is playing on those courts throughout the day, follow @ustaboys on Twitter.

The semifinals of the USTA Girls 16s National Championships are Tuesday in San Diego, with No. 33 seed Luciana Perry facing No. 11 seed Arina Oreshchenko and No. 2 seed Tatum Evans playing No. 8 seed Alexia Harmon. Perry defeated No. 12 seed Valeria Ray 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-4 and Oreshchenko won a thriller over unseeded Erica Jessel 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(10). Evans defeated No. 5 seed Reese Miller 6-0, 7-6(6) and Harmon beat No. 10 seed Ahmani Guichard 6-4, 6-3.

A link to live streaming is available at the PlayTennis site.

Katrina Scott was scheduled to play today in the 18s in San Diego, but her place as the No. 2 seed at the bottom of the draw is now showing an unseeded player. Scott lost in the quarterfinals of the WTA 125 in Concord Massachusetts on Saturday.