Top Seed Svajda and Third Seed Shelton Begin Pursuit of Kalamazoo 18s Title; McDonald Makes First ATP Final in DC; Collins Extends Winning Streak in San Jose; Spizzirri Reaches Decatur $25K Final; Russian Girls, Italian Boys Claim ITF World Junior Tennis Titles

©Colette Lewis 2021--
Kalamazoo MI--

The seeded players in the 18s Division took the court Saturday at the USTA National Championships, while the first round of 16s singles was completed, despite wet courts that pushed back the start of play by two hours.

But once the courts at Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium, Western Michigan University and Loy Norrix High School dried the rain stayed away, with heat and humidity taking its place.

It was mid-afternoon before 2019 champion and top 18s seed Zachary Svajda played, but after missing out on an opportunity to defend his title last year, he was so grateful to have another  chance to close out his career here that the three-hour delay barely registered as a nuisance.

"I really like it here, so I'm happy to be back," said Svajda, who turns 19 in November. "When I first got here, and I pulled in and saw the court, I thought, man, these are good memories. I like the courts here a lot, like how they play, it's a great tournament."

Svajda, who defeated John Lasanajak 6-0, 6-1 in the second round today to run his Kalamazoo winning streak to eight matches, was seeded No. 6 in 2019, when he defeated Govind Nanda 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 in the final. The San Diego resident, who trains at the USTA Player Development Center in Carson California now, acknowledges a different mindset this year.

"It's changed maybe a little bit, pressure-wise," Svajda said. "But I try not to worry so much about that, and try to go out like I did that year. It feels nice, being the 1 seed; I don't get that much in the pros, not at all, so it feels good, with a little bit more pressure this year."

Svajda will face No. 33 seed Jelani Sarr in the third round Monday.

It was less than three months ago that freshman Ben Shelton clinched the NCAA Team title for his father's Florida Gators, the first in the program's history. Coming through in such a pressure-packed moment is a memory for a lifetime, but it only whetted Shelton's appetite for more success in the sport.

"I was really excited to be a part of that championship team," said the No. 3 seed. "It was such a cool moment with my dad and the rest of my teammates, those guys are all my best friends. So I really enjoyed that moment, and it was sweet for a small amount of time, and then it was, ok, what are my goals for next year and what do I want the team to do next year. I've been really adamant about changing how I prepare and train this summer and I think that's helped a little bit, which you can see in the rise in my results. It's not a fluke, I think it's the work I'm putting in behind the scenes that has flipped a little switch for me."

Shelton came to Kalamazoo having won both the singles and doubles titles at the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Champaign last weekend, which wasn't as much of a surprise to Shelton as it might have been to those facing the 18-year-old wild card.

"I've always known I have a pretty big game," Shelton said. "It's just kind of harnessing it. In that tournament I was calm and cool all the way through, didn't have any emotional up and downs, and I started playing better tennis as I went through the tournament, serving well and I completely trusted myself and had the confidence that I thought I was going to win."

In his match with John Kim today, Shelton broke at 4-all in the first set and held to take it 6-4, then applied more pressure than Kim's one-handed backhand could take in the second set, which he won 6-1.

"At the end of the first set I got pretty fired up, got emotionally locked in," said Shelton, who recalled losing to Kim earlier in their junior careers. "That propelled me over the finish line in the first set. I brought up my intensity level a little bit and that got me over the hump, and in the second set I started feeling more comfortable, like I have in last couple of weeks. And I was doing a little less physically, but I was getting more out of it with my shot production."

Shelton will play Ann Arbor's Mert Oral, who defeated No. 33 seed Jayranth Devaiah 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-3 at Western Michigan.

No. 2 seed Martin Damm, the 2018 16s champion, defeated Luca Hotze 6-2, 6-4; No. 4 seed Ethan Quinn beat Andy Hernandez 6-0, 6-3 and No. 5 seed and Wimbledon boys champion Samir Banerjee downed Nico Jamison 6-2, 6-1. Kalamazoo's Nathaniel Webster, a No. 33 seed, is through to a third round match with No. 8 seed and 2019 16s champion Alexander Bernard after Webster, a Ball State rising freshman, closed out Andrew Meier 6-4, 6-1. Bernard defeated David Mamalat 6-1, 6-2.

The only Top 16 seed to bow out in the second round was No. 12 Benjamin Kittay, who was beaten by Washington rising freshman Nedim Suko 6-3, 6-1.

The top 32 seeds in the 16s will play on Sunday, with the 18s main draw singles off for the day. The third round of 18s doubles and the first round of 16s doubles are also on the schedule for Sunday.

Live streaming for the front three courts is available through the tournament's website ustaboys.com.

A quick check on the pro results from today:

2016 NCAA singles and doubles champion Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) reached his first ATP final this evening, defeating Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 at the Citi Open in Washington DC. McDonald plays No. 5 seed Jannik Sinner of Italy, who beat Jenson Brooksby 7-6(2), 6-1, for the title Sunday.

Another 2016 NCAA champion, Danielle Collins, is through to a pro tour final, with the former Virginia star beating qualifier Ana Konjuh of Croatia 6-0, 6-2 today in the semifinals of the WTA 500 Mubadala Silicon Valley Open. Collins, who won her first title last month in Parma Italy, is now on a nine-match winning streak.

At the Concord WTA 125, Katrina Scott lost her rain-delayed quarterfinal match against Magdalena Frech of Poland 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Frech went on to reach the final, where she'll play No. 8 seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico for the title. Scott will play her first match at the USTA G18s Nationals in San Diego on Monday.

Nineteen-year-old Eliot Spizzirri, the University of Texas rising junior, has reached the final of the $25,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Decatur Illinois as a qualifier. In today's semifinal, his first at the pro level, Spizzirri defeated Alex Rybakov(TCU) 6-4, 7-5. The Longhorns No. 1 will play Aidan McHugh of Great Britain in Sunday's final.  

The ITF World Junior Tennis finals for U14 teams concluded today in the Czech Republic, with the top seeded Russian girls and Italian boys taking the titles. For more on today's finals, see this article from the ITF Junior website.