Rain Delays Round of 16 in Kalamazoo Nationals 18s Divisions, Bigun Downs No. 3 Seed Tien to Reach 16s Quarterfinals; Mid-Tournament Kalamazoo Podcast; Tatum Evans Claims Girls 16s National Title in San Diego

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Kalamazoo MI--

The weather has continued to be the lead story at the USTA Boys 16s and 18s National Championships, with an early afternoon rain storm sending the 16s singles and doubles inside and pushing the 18s singles round of 16 and doubles quarterfinals to Thursday.

A severe thunderstorm late Tuesday night caused damage at Western Michigan University's Sorenson courts, delaying the consolation matches that were scheduled to be played there today. But Stowe Stadium escaped serious damage and play began in the 16s, with four players advancing before the rain arrived: Nikita Filin[20], Lucas Brown[4], Cooper Woestendick[5] and Aaron Sandler[27].  Three other 16s matches were in progress when the heavy rain began, with top seed Alexander Razeghi leading Tanner Povey[33] 6-3, 3-2; No. 2 seed Emon van Loben Sels ahead of unseeded Cayden Wang 6-4, 4-1; and Meecah Bigun[30] up 7-5, 5-3 on No. 3 seed Learner Tien.  

Bigun acknowledged that it wasn't the ideal time for an interruption, with the 15-year-old serving for the match at 15-0 when play was suspended and then moved to the YMCA.

"It was a stressful situation, with the rain, having to go indoors," said Bigun, who hadn't played Tien in several years. "But I talked it over with my coach, we had a great mentality going in. I had to really breathe, focus one point at a time and luckily I did just that."

Bigun has an identical twin brother, Kaylan, who lost to Woestendick today 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Like the Bryan brothers, the only way to tell them apart is when they have a racquet in their hand, with Meecah right-handed and Kaylan left-handed.

"It's great, I'm so grateful to share the experience with him," Meecah said. "Obviously we have our arguments, have to battle it out in practice, but it's great having him by my side playing."

The twins, who are seeded fifth, have advanced to Thursday's doubles quarterfinals, as have top four seeded teams.

Like Bigun, Razeghi and van Loben Sels did not stumble after the rain forced play indoors, with Razeghi beating Povey 6-3, 6-2 and van Loben Sels defeating Wang 6-4, 6-3.

The only 18s match that made it on court was between No. 6 seed Bruno Kuzuhara and No. 20 seed Bjorn Swenson. Swenson had won the first set 6-3, but Kuzuhara had taken a 4-2 lead in the second set when the rain came.

Because there is a US Open main draw wild card on the line, the policy is to play all 18s main draw matches outside if at all possible. With a rain day built into the schedule for tournament weather weeks like this, the 16s will not play main draw singles on Thursday, with consolation and doubles quarterfinals the only 16s action. The round of 16 matches for 18s start at 10 a.m. on Thursday, with the 18s doubles quarterfinals in the afternoon.

Live streaming is available at ustaboys.com.

Alex Gruskin of Cracked Racquets has been in Kalamazoo the past two days, and the rain delay allowed us to sit down for a mid-tournament assessment. We discussed the strength of field and who has impressed us during the week, while throwing in some big picture college tennis talk as well. That podcast can be found here.

Tatum Evans is the USTA Girls 16s national champion after the No. 2 seed defeated Luciana Perry, a No. 33 seed, 6-1, 7-5 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. The 15-year-old from Virginia will receive a US Open Junior Championships main draw wild card, along with the gold ball that goes to all USTA National Champions. 

From the tournament's public relations staff:

SECOND-SEEDED TATUM EVANS CROWNED SINGLES CHAMPION
AT USTA BILLIE JEAN KING GIRLS’ 16s NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Evans Defeats 33rd Seed Luciana Perry 6-1, 7-5 in Girls’ 16s Final
 

SAN DIEGO – (August 11, 2021) – Fifteen-year-old Tatum Evans staged an impressive second-set comeback and overcame 33rd seeded Luciana Perry of Export, Pa., 6-1, 7-5 to capture the singles title at the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King Girls’ 16s National Championships.

Evans’ championship run to the 16s singles title was nearly derailed in Tuesday's semifinals. The second-seeded Evans fought off five match points in her dramatic 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over eighth-seeded Alexia Harmon, which took three-hours and 38 minutes.

Playing on a bright, sunny day in Wednesday’s final on Stadium Court at the Barnes Tennis Center, Evans and Perry exchanged service breaks early in the opening set.

With a 2-1 lead, Evans began dominating rallies from the baseline and won four straight games with the loss of five points to close out the first set in 33 minutes.

However, Perry was far from finished in the match as the 16-year-old battled back and began to extend the rallies and string points together in the second set. Perry broke Evans’ serve twice and established a 5-2 lead.

Just when it looked like the championship match would be determined in three sets, Evans mounted a furious comeback and won the last five games to wrap up the title in one-hour and 35 minutes.

“This is definitely a huge achievement for me. She (Perry) played great and started to get in rhythm. I was overthinking. That's happened in my other tennis matches. I'm glad I was able to recognize it and snap out of it,” Evans said following the match.

“We've worked so much on my backhand because my forehand was always my weapon. All that hard work paid off,” Evans added.
 
After her victory, Tennis Legend Billie Jean King presented Evans with a USTA gold ball during the post-match ceremony. The newly-crowned 16s singles champion will also receive a wild card into the 2021 US Open Junior Championships.

The 16s doubles champions are No. 3 seeds Piper Charney and Ava Bruno, who defeated No. 7 seeds Erin Ha and Kaitlyn Carnicella 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a two-and-a-half hour championship match.

The round of 16 at the girls 18s will be played Thursday, with top seed Robin Montgomery the only top 4 seed remaining after today's action. 

No. 3 seed Madison Sieg was beaten by Charlotte Owensby, a No. 17 seed, 6-3, 6-3 and No. 4 seed Alexandra Yepifanova lost to Meera Jesudason, also a No. 17 seed.

Links to draws and live streaming can be found at the USTA's Play Tennis site.