Exsted Upsets 16s Top Seed Horovitz; Woestendick Saves Two Match Points to Advance to Thursday's Quarterfinals; Top Seed Falls at Boys 14s; CBS Sports Network Televising Girls 18s Semis and Finals in San Diego

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Kalamazoo MI--

A second straight day of perfect weather greeted the competitors in the round of 16 of the USTA Boys 16s National Championships at Stowe Stadium, but unlike Tuesday, the results were far from ideal for the top seeds.

No. 1 seed Roy Horovitz lost to No. 14 seed Max Exsted 7-5, 6-2 and No. 3 seed Adhithya Ganesan was beaten by No. 13 seed Calvin Baierl 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-5.

Horovitz, who had a tough fourth round match on Tuesday, just couldn't get himself in a winning position against Exsted.

"The first set was a little weird," said Exsted, a 15-year-old from Minnesota who trains in Florida. "The first eight games nobody held. I think we were both a little bit nervous coming out of the gate, but when I was dictating play and looking for my forehand it was good."

As the top seed, Horovitz had played on George Acker Court, the main court at Stowe Stadium, twice already this week, while Exsted was encountering that atmosphere for the first time.

"It's a great experience but it doesn't make much of a difference in my mind," said Exsted, who had not played Horovitz before. "I try to stay in my court, but it's definitely a really cool experience."

Up 4-1 in the second set, Exsted dropped serve, but immediately broke back and was able to fight off any nerves when closing it out on his serve.

"After I got broken, I had a good attitude about it," Exsted said. "I wasn't getting like super mad. I just tried to stay calm and cool."

Exsted admitted that it wasn't peak tennis from either of them.

"We both could have played a little better," said Exsted. "But he's still a really good player. It was my first time playing him, but I'm sure we'll play so many more times. We're pretty similar, the way we play. There's pretty much no free points, and we had so many long rallies."

Exsted will play No. 9 seed Mitchell Lee, who beat No. 33 seed Vincent Yang 6-3, 6-2. "We've been friends for so long, I've known him since we were maybe 10, but it'll be a first time playing him," Exsted said. "So it should be fun."

Unlike Exsted, who reached the 14s final last year in Mobile and is making his debut in Kalamazoo this year, No. 4 seed Woestendick is a veteran, having taken third place last year as a 14-year-old.

He needed all the energy and experience he could muster today, saving two match points to beat No. 12 seed Mikel Anderson 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(5) in three hours and 39 minutes.

Woestendick, who turns 16 in November, managed to come up with two big serves on those match points and attributed his ability to execute when under pressure to both mental and physical strength.

"You've just got to fight the nerves and go big," said the right-hander from Kansas. "Physically I felt pretty good. This past year I've done a ton more fitness, working for matches like this, which are almost four hours. Obviously, if you're playing that long, you're going to get pretty tired, so you've just got to stay focused on each point."

In the tiebreaker, there was again almost nothing to separate the two, but at 5-all Woestendick managed a perfect drop shot to go up 6-5, and Anderson netted a forehand to end the marathon.

"I was very impressed with him all match," said Woestendick, who had not played Anderson before. "He stepped up his game late in the second set and in the third set as well, and it was good tennis overall."

Woestendick, also a doubles finalist in 2021, had enough success in the 16s to contemplate playing the 18s this year, but pointed to the difference in his position, and the US Open Junior wild card to the 16s winner, as reasons to stay in his age group.

"Last year, playing here at 14, honestly there was no expectations, just come here and play," said Woestendick. "This year's a little more pressure, you're one of the higher seeds. There's some very good opponents in 16s this year and I just want to get some good tennis in. And the US Open Junior wild card, that's definitely one of the reasons I'm playing 16s this year."

No. 12 seed Rudy Quan, who needed assistance exiting the court after his 7-6(3), 7-6(6) win over No. 8 seed Ian Bracks, will face the 15-year-old Baierl in one bottom half quarterfinal. In the other, No. 2 seed Quang Duong, the reigning 16s Orange Bowl champion, will face No. 32 seed Saahith Jayaraman, who came back to beat No. 6 seed Matthew Forbes 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

While the 16s quarterfinals are Thursday, the 18s will be playing their round of 16 matches, with most of the favorites still around. Seven of the Top eight seeds advanced today, with the only one missing No. 6 Nishesh Basavareddy, who withdrew the day before the tournament.

Two 9-16 seeds lost today, with Evan Wen, a No. 33 seed, beating No. 9 seed Sebastian Gorzny 6-1, 6-0 and No. 23 Ryan Colby beating No. 14 seed Hudson Rivera 6-4, 7-6(7).

Wen will take on Martin Damm, who beat No. 26 seed Bryce Nakashima 6-3, 6-1.  Wimbledon finalist Michael Zheng, the No. 5 seed, had no trouble with No. 31 seed Sebastian Sec, posting a 6-3, 6-2 win; No. 16 seed Aidan Kim breezed to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over unseeded Mujtaba Ali-Khan to set up a rematch of their Wimbledon round of 16 match last month, which Zheng won 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

No. 3 seed Bruno Kuzuhara had to raise his level late in each set to get past 2021 16s finalist Lucas Brown 6-3, 6-4; he will play No. 10 seed Cooper Williams Thursday. Kuzuhara beat Williams 7-6(1), 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the Grade 1 Eddie Herr last December.

No. 12 seed Nicholas Godsick came from a 6-3, 3-1 down to beat No. 27 seed Alexander Visser 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. Godsick will face No. 8 seed Learner Tien, who beat No. 29 seed and Clay Courts champion Nicholas Heng 6-1, 6-2. Tien defeated Godsick 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Grade 1 in Costa Rica early this year.

No. 33 seed Alexander Chang will face the second Michigan player in the round of 16 (Kim is from suburban Detroit), Ozan Baris. Chang, a rising sophomore at Cal, earned a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 win over unseeded Alejandro Jacome. Baris, formerly Colak, beat No. 25 seed Adit Sinha 6-2, 6-4. 

No. 4 seed Kyle Kang will play No. 13 seed Samir Banerjee after each got through the fourth round in straight sets. Kang defeated No. 19 seed Kaylan Bigun 6-2, 6-2 and Banerjee beat unseeded Alex Fuchs 6-2, 7-6(2). Kang and Banerjee met last year in the third round of the Easter Bowl, with Kang winning in a third set tiebreaker.

No. 7 seed Alex Michelsen overcame a rough start to beat No. 33 seed Masato Perera 1-6, 6-4, 6-4 and will play Colby for a place in Friday's quarterfinals.

No. 15 seed Jack Anthrop had another long three-setter today, beating No. 24 seed Braden Shick 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. He will play No. 2 seed Ethan Quinn, who got past an inspired Landon Ardila, the No. 29 seed, 7-5, 6-4. Anthrop and Quinn played two weeks ago in the second round of a $25,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Edwardsville Illinois, with Anthrop up 5-2 when Quinn retired.

The 18s doubles quarterfinals were played Wednesday afternoon, with two routine and two exciting matches entering the crowds at Stowe Stadium.

Top seeds and Wimbledon champions Gorzny and Michelsen beat No. 10 seeds Nikita Filin and Alexander Razeghi 6-3, 6-3 and will play No. 9 seeds Shick and Rivera, who saved four match points in their 5-7, 7-6(10), 11-9 win over No. 26 seeds Chase Thompson and Aadarsh Tripathi.

Zheng and Anthrop, the No. 5 seeds, defeated No. 19 seeds Marko Mesarovic and Caden Hasler 6-3, 6-2 and will face No. 2 seeds Godsick and Quinn, who avenged their San Diego J1 lost this spring to No. 7 seeds Ardila and Brown 6-4, 2-6, 10-6.

Godsick won the 16s doubles title last year with Brown; Quinn was the 18s runnerup in doubles with Gorzny.

The quarterfinals of 16s doubles will be played Thursday afternoon, while the 18s will have the day off from doubles.

The junior boys wheelchair championships begin Thursday at Stowe and run through Saturday, so the boys 18s round of 16 will be played on the back courts at Stowe and live streaming will not be available. 

Thursday's schedule is here.

The only No. 1 seeds still in contention for USTA National singles titles this week are in the 12s and 18s, with the loss today of the top seed in B14s in Mobile, Jack Secord. Micah Ward[17] defeated Secord 6-2, 6-3.

Reese Brantmeier[1] and Rachel Gailis[2] won today in the 18s round of 32 in San Diego, but Easter Bowl champion Alexis Blokhina[3] lost to Daria Smetannikov[17] 6-1, 7-5. No. 6 seed Clervie Ngounoue[6] lost to Kinaa Graham[33] 6-3 ,4-1 ret. ill.

The semifinals and finals of the 18s will be televised this weekend on CBS Sports Network, according to this release today from the tournament.