Sec Shocks Second Seed Damm in Kalamazoo 18s Fourth Round, Top Four Seeds Advance in 16s Division; Evans and Perry Meet for Girls 16s Title Wednesday in San Diego

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Kalamazoo MI--

As the temperature rose Tuesday at Stowe Stadium, Sebastian Sec was able to keep his cool, closing out No. 2 seed and 2018 16s champion Martin Damm 7-6(4), 6-3 in fourth round action in the USTA 18s National Championships.

Sec, a rising senior who recently verbally committed to Princeton, said his relative obscurity as a No. 33 seed may have helped him pull off the upset, while Sec and his coach did their homework beforehand.

"Fortunately, he's one of those players who has a lot of video, so we looked at a lot of video to see what I could do to prevent him from getting to his weapons," said the 17-year-old from New York City. "He looked a little tight in the beginning; he doesn't know me, know my game and it was kind of the opposite for me, I knew a lot about his game, so I think I used that to my advantage. I was keeping the ball out of his strike zone, keeping it where he didn't want it, slowing down the pace, and I think I put him in an uncomfortable spot."

With no breaks in the first set, the tiebreaker was key, and it was Sec who stepped up winning the last three points to take it.

"The first set wasn't my strongest performance on the return, but that just made me more inclined to make sure I was holding serve," Sec said. "I was able to keep holding serve and got my opportunities in the breaker and I made sure I took advantage."

Damm fell behind 4-0 in the second set, and as the humidity increased, with the heat index over 100 degrees, his energy level looked low. But Sec finally dropped serve at 4-1, giving Damm a glimpse of a path to a comeback.

"In the second set, I was able to get a break right away, but I could see him going for less on his serve," said Sec who trains at the McEnroe Tennis Academy with Lawrence Kleger. "I think he was missing a lot of first serves and he was going for less. That kind of opened up a lot for me to make returns. I kept making him play and fortunately got another break. But I tightened up a little bit, the moment got to me, and I was broken. But from then on I was dialed in, making sure I was going to hold my way to the match."

Sec held his own in a crucial rally in the final game, hitting a down-the-line winner at 30-all to set up match point, and the drama ended there, with Damm missing a volley to send Sec to the round of 16.

Sec turns 18 in October, so his dream of playing in a junior slam died with last year's ITF shutdown, unless of course he wins the Kalamazoo 18s, which gives the champion both a men's main draw and junior wild card in the US Open.

"I think maybe I'll close out with Orange Bowl, Eddie Herr," Sec said. "Once my time ends in January with juniors, I'm going to try to travel and get my first ATP points, before college, that's one of my goals."

While his birthday isn't a good on from an ITF standpoint, Sec is able to play Kalamazoo in 2022.

"I can come back and win this thing next year," Sec said, before adding, "Or this year, who knows?"

In Wednesday's round of 16, Sec will face another 33 seed, Chase Thompson, who beat No. 16 seed Gavin Young 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. 

Top seed and defending champion Zachary Svajda defeated unseeded Jean-Baptiste Badon 6-2, 6-0, and No. 3 seed Ben Shelton continued his winning ways, defeating unseeded Ritesh Patil 6-2, 6-2.

Wimbledon boys champion and No. 5 seed Samir Banerjee was on top of his game today, taking out No. 32 seed Quinn Vandecasteele 6-0, 6-0.

No. 9 seed Ozan Colak of Okemos Michigan has advanced to the round of 16, and he will be the focus of most of the local attention when the general public can attend the tournament, beginning  Wednesday. For Colak, who finished sixth in the 16s division two years ago, Kalamazoo is a special place.

"This is probably my favorite tournament of the year, the one I really look forward to," said the 17-year-old, who defeated No. 17 seed Kyle Kang 6-3, 6-4. "Playing in the home state is just amazing. I really don't get that chance much, I'm on the road a lot. It's just a different feeling, a different motivation for me, it feels like home when I'm playing here. When it was cancelled last year, I was bummed, but this year, of course, I was super motivated and having this motivation and this love for playing Kalamazoo, I knew I could have a good run."

Colak will face No. 8 seed and 2019 16s champion Alexander Bernard, who came back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Karl Lee, a No. 33 seed in the worst heat and humidity of the afternoon.

The 16s division continued to go smoothly for the top four seeds, all of whom won in straight sets in today's fourth round. No. 1 seed Alexander Razeghi extended his winning streak in games to 27 before falling behind No. 22 seed Jason Shuler 4-2 in the second set, but the 15-year-old Texan started another streak, taking the last four games for a 6-0, 6-4 win.

No. 2 seed Emon van Loben Sels defeated No. 19 seed Owen Megargee 6-4, 6-2; No. 3 seed Lerner Tien got off to a slow start but beat No. 24 seed Dylan Tsoi 6-3, 6-0 and No. 4 seed Lucas Brown defeated No. 32 seed Vincent Yang 6-3, 6-1.

The quarterfinals are set in 18s doubles, with the top four seeds: No 1. Shelton and Bruno Kuzuhara, No. 2 Sebastian Gorzny and Ethan Quinn, No. 3 Bernard and Dali Blanch and No. 4 Svajda and Benjamin Kittay advancing.

Doubles draws for 18s and 16s can be found at the tournament website, ustaboys.com.

The final is set for the girls 16s National Championship in San Diego, with Luciana Perry, a No. 33 seed, facing No. 2 seed Tatum Evans. Both semifinals today were long, tough affairs, with Perry defeating No. 11 seed Arina Oreshchenko 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, and Evans saving five match points in her 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) win over Alexia Harmon. 

In the 18s division, top seed Robin Montgomery is through to the fourth round, as is No. 3 seed Madison Sieg and No. 4 seed Alexandra Yepifanova. No. 2 seed Katrina Scott withdrew.

For all the scores from San Diego, see the USTA's Play Tennis website.