Smith Ousts Wimbledon Champion Banerjee in Kalamazoo 18s Quarterfinals; Woestendick Reaches 16s Semifinals; Doubles Titles on the Line Saturday; Girls 18s Semis Set; 12s and 14s Singles Finals Saturday

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Kalamazoo MI--

After rain delays and overnight storms during the week, the quarterfinals in both age divisions were pushed to Friday, and the weather cooperated for the eight singles matches and four doubles matches in the USTA 16s and 18s National Championships.

With temperatures in the 70s and the humidity back to a tolerable level, the local fans at Stowe Stadium were treated to competitive matches throughout the day, with results both expected and unexpected.

In the latter category, No. 28 seed Colton Smith's three-hour 6-4, 6-7(8), 6-2 win over No. 5 seed Samir Banerjee provided both great shot-making and serious drama, with Smith rebounding after failing to serve out the match twice in the second set, with Banerjee saving a match point.

Smith first served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but got no closer than deuce in that game as Banerjee cranked up his forehand, forcing errors from Smith.

Banerjee couldn't hold the momentum, dropping serve to give Smith a 6-5 lead, and in his second opportunity, the Arizona freshman got to match point at 40-30 with a good first serve. He decided to serve and volley, which he hadn't done often in the match, but Banerjee hit the first-serve returned right at Smith's feet, and after a forced error and a double fault, Banerjee had forced a tiebreaker. 

With neither player leading by more than a point, the tiebreaker was close throughout. Smith didn't earn another match point, with Banerjee eventually taking it on his fourth set point, with his forehand forcing an error from Smith.

The ten-minute break between sets gave Smith an opportunity to talk to his coach and put his situation in perspective.

"I was a little disappointed, but I knew I had put myself in the right positions to win," said the 18-year-old from Tenino Washington. "He came up with a really good shot on match point. But I had a lot of confidence going into third sets, based on my previous two matches, so I wasn't super worried. It would have been nice to shorten the match a little bit, but it was a good experience and I'll learn a lot from it."

Smith hadn't played Banerjee before, but he had gotten some tips from those who had and formulated a strategy.

"He definitely takes a lot of time away, which isn't something that you see a whole lot in junior tennis," said Smith, who starts his freshman year in Tucson next week. "And so that was definitely something I had to adjust to. So I just watched for the downline backhand and wasn't afraid to go inside out, high heavy to his backhand, and it benefited me in the long run."

Instead of serving for the match in the third set, Smith avoided any flashbacks to the second set, breaking Banerjee to go up 4-2, holding at love, and then breaking a second time for the match.

"I just felt I had to put returns in play, put the pressure on him," Smith said. "Once I got that first point of that game (on a double fault), I knew that if I kept putting pressure on him, not going for anything I shouldn't, that he would make some errors and I would get some errors from him. That was my game plan going into that last game."

Smith has now secured at least a US Open Juniors qualifying wild card, but he will be in school by then and hasn't really had time to think about playing in his first, and last, junior slam.

"I'm just going to finish up this tournament and decide after that about my next tournament," Smith said

Smith's opponent has had plenty of experience in New York, with top seed and defending champion Zachary Svajda looking to return to the main draw of the men's singles competition.

Svajda was ever so briefly behind in his quarterfinal match with No. 6 seed Bruno Kuzuhara, who broke the 18-year-old from San Diego to go up 3-2 in the first set. But Zvajda locked in, won the next four games for the set, and wasn't challenged in the second, claiming a 6-3, 6-2 victory. Svajda, who played Kalamazoo for the first time in 2019, is now a perfect 12-0 in singles at the tournament.

No. 3 seed Ben Shelton dropped his first set today in his quarterfinal with No. 7 seed Dali Blanch, dropping serve at 5-6 in the second, but the rising sophomore at Florida came back in the third for a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 win.

Shelton will face No. 8 seed Alexander Bernard in the semifinals, after Bernard celebrated his 18th birthday with a 6-1, 7-6(5) win over Sebastian Sec, a No. 33 seed. 

Bernard and Sheldon met in the 2019 16s semifinals in Kalamazoo, with Bernard, who went on to win the title, taking that one 6-2, 6-4.

In the 16s, No. 5 seed Cooper Woestendick took out No. 2 seed Emon van Loben Sels 6-4, 7-5, with the 14-year-old now beginning to feel comfortable in the older age division.

"I had a pretty good tournament at (16) Clays, got to the semis at Clays a few weeks ago. When I got there and I started playing well, I knew I could hang with these guys," said Woestendick, who won the 14s Easter Bowl this spring. "I sort of new, but I hadn't played any L-1s in 16s, it's always been 14s. But it is a different game; everyone hits bigger, is physically much stronger, matches are more intense, so you just have to get physically fit for it."

Van Loben Sels led 5-3 in the second set, but Woestendick quickly broke and held, with van Loben Sels increasingly frustrated as he saw his chances for a third set slip away.

Woestendick is playing Kalamazoo for the first time, and he is effusive in his praise of the experience.

"This is awesome, this is definitely the best tournament I've ever been to," said the Olathe Kansas resident. "I know it's been affected by Covid, some people have told me, but it's crazy nice. This place is awesome."

Woestendick will face No. 4 seed Lucas Brown of Plano Texas, who defeated No. 26 seed Declan Galligan 6-4, 7-6(3) in another long and hard-fought quarterfinals.

The semifinal in the top half of the draw will feature No. 1 seed Alexander Razeghi against No. 20 seed Nikita Filin, in a rematch of a quarterfinal at this year's 16s Easter Bowl. 

Razeghi, who has not dropped a set this week, advanced when No. 27 seed Aaron Sandler retired with a back injury trailing 6-2, 3-1.

Filin, from Wilmette Illinois, defeated No. 30 seed Meecah Bigun 7-6(8), 6-3. In that Easter Bowl quarterfinal between the two 15-year-olds, Razeghi won 6-2, 6-4 and went on to claim the title.

The 16s singles semifinals begin at 9:30 a.m., with the 18s singles semifinals to follow on Stowe courts 2 and 3. 

The top two seeds in both divisions will play for the doubles titles on Saturday. In the 16s, No. 1 seeds Brown and Nicholas Godsick will take on No. 2 seeds Woestendick and Quang Duong, after Brown and Godsick defeated No. 4 seeds Dylan Tsoi and van Loben Sels 7-5, 6-2 and Duong and Woestendick beat No. 10 seeds Razeghi and Zane Ford 6-3, 6-1.

Top 18s seeds Kuzuhara and Shelton fought back to take their semifinal match with No. 3 seeds Bernard and Blanch 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Kuzuhara and Shelton will face No. 2 seeds Sebastian Gorzny and Ethan Quinn, who saved three set points in the second set to beat Smith and Braden Shick, the No. 7 seeds, 6-3, 7-6(3). 

It isn't obvious from the scores, but doubles this year is being played in the no-ad format, which will continue through the finals. From the semifinals on, the third set is played out, rather than being decided by a match tiebreaker. The winner of the 18s doubles title receives a main draw wild card into the US Open.

The doubles finals will follow the singles semifinals, with the 16s scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and the 18s doubles final not before 2:30 p.m. 

The complete schedule for Saturday can be found at ustaboys.com. Live streaming links can be found here.

Results form Friday's singles quarterfinals at the Girls 18s in San Diego:

Robin Montgomery[1] d. Katie Codd[17] 7-5, 6-1

Reese Brantmeier[7] d. Meera Jesudason[17] 6-2, 6-0

Ashlyn Krueger[6] d. Ellie Coleman[17] 6-2, 6-2

Elvina Kalieva[5] d. Valencia Xu[33] 6-0, 6-2

The singles final at the Boys 12s in Mobile will feature top seed Jack Secord and No. 16 Joseph Nau.

The Boys 14s singles final in Mobile has No. 8 seed Maxwell Exsted playing Jacob Olar, a No. 17 seed.

At the Girls 12s in Alpharetta, top seed Isabelle DeLuccia will play No. 15 seed Julieta Pareja for the singles title.

In Rome, the Girls 14s gold ball will be decided in a final between No. 5 seed Sydney Jara and No. 2 seed Claire Hill.