Guichard Defeats Top Seed Bartashevich as Eight Girls Seeds Fall in First Round at ITF J1 College Park; 36 Americans Set for US Open Qualifying, Twenty Open Play Tuesday

©Colette Lewis 2022--
JTCC, College Park MD--

The first day of the ITF Grade 1 in College Park Maryland began with damp courts and ended with play moved indoors due to more rain and darkness. During the 12 plus hours in between, eight of the 16 seeds in the girls draw were eliminated, including top seed Yaroslava Bartashevich, while seven boys seeds also were eliminated, although none of the top five.

Ahmani Guichard didn't look as if she were going to topple the No. 1 seed Bartashevich when she dropped the first set to the tall and powerful right-hander from France 6-2. But determined to make a match of it, Guichard hung tough, mentally and physically and rebounded for a 2-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory.

"I've had a really tough last couple of months so I came into this match just trying to be focused and positive with myself," said the 17-year-old from Florida, who has verbally committed to UCLA for 2023. "I just stayed positive with every point. I thought my serve could have been a little bit better, but I tried to keep my first serve percentage as high as I could and I just battled through."

Guichard had a 3-1 lead in the third set, but when Bartashevich brought it back to 3-all she wasn't about to panic.

"It was all mental," Guichard said. "I knew I had been in both positions before; ahead and they come back and the same thing for me, so I just tried to stay positive and keep the same game plan."

Guichard's positivity was in contrast to Bartashevich's demeanor, which telegraphed her frustration with the way she was playing.

"I felt at times, throughout the match, when I would get ahead, she was starting to make a few more errors, get upset with herself," said Guichard, who called it "definitely" one of her best wins of her junior career. "I heard her keep talking to herself negatively, so I tried as best as I could to just keep pushing forward."

At the University of Maryland courts, where 24 of the first round matches were played, Ava Krug defeated No. 3 seed Taylah Preston of Australia 6-3, 6-1. Wild card Capucine Jauffret advanced when No. 9 seed Aruzhan Sagandikova of Kazakhstan retired trailing 6-1, 3-0.  Katie Rolls defeated No. 11 seed Mia Slama 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4); Theodora Rabman beat No. 12 seed Hayu Kinoshita of Japan 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Valeria Ray defeated No. 13 seed Laniana Tararudee of Thailand 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 and wild card Claire An defeated No. 15 seed Sandugash Kenzhibayeva of Kazakhstan 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

No. 2 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia, a finalist here last year, beat wild card Shannon Lam 6-4, 6-1.

In boys first round action, No. 6 seed Alex Frusina retired to wild card Rudy Quan with the score 5-7, 6-0 in their match at University of Maryland. Marko Mesarovic defeated Sebastian Eriksson of Sweden 6-3, 7-5; Jordan Reznik beat No. 8 seed Jack Loutit of new Zealand 6-3, 7-6(3); Quang Duong beat No. 7 seed Max Batyutenko of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-5; qualifier Ian Mayhew defeated No. 13 seed Kaylan Bigun 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-3 in one of the matches that finished indoors; in another indoor finish, Rohan Belday defeated Meecah Bigun 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

On the Pershing Square Court, the Junior Tennis Champions Center's main show court, wild card Stiles Brockett earned his best win in ITF play, defeating No. 10 seed Branko Djuric of Serbia 7-6(2), 6-7(3), 6-4. When Brockett, the reigning 16s Clay Court champion who trains at JTCC, came up with a good shot, applause from the veranda and stands was generous, but when it was Djuric taking the point, it was quiet.

Top seed Lautaro Midon of Argentina beat Evan Wen 6-2, 6-4 and No. 2 seed Rei Sakamoto of Japan defeated qualifier Kase Schinnerer 6-0, 6-4.

Play begins at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, with a JTCC alum Frances Tiafoe having a practice session on Pershing Square Court after the day's first second round junior match on that court.

Thirty-six Americans, including 18 wild cards, are in the US Open qualifying tournament, which begins 11 a.m. Tuesday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

American's competing in the men's qualifying draw:

Oliver Crawford[WC]

Bradley Klahn

Michael Mmoh

Ernesto Escobedo*

Ethan Quinn[WC]*

Christopher Eubanks*

Bruno Kuzuhara[WC]

Alex Rybakov[WC]

Govind Nanda[WC]

Zachary Svajda[WC]*

Martin Damm[WC]*

Mitchell Krueger*

Brandon Holt[WC]*

Murphy Cassone[WC]*

Bjorn Fratangelo*

Aleks Kovacevic*

*plays first round match Tuesday.

Kalamazoo finalist Quinn and Escobedo play each other in the first round.

Americans competing in the women's qualifying draw:

Sachia Vickery*

Kayla Day[WC]

Katrina Scott[WC]*

Elvina Kalieva[WC]*

Hailey Baptiste*

Emina Bektas*

Alycia Parks*

Danielle Lao*

Robin Anderson*

Caty McNally

Whitney Osuigwe[WC]

Caroline Dolehide

Christina McHale[WC]

Liv Hovde[WC]

Louisa Chirico

Katie Volynets[13]*

Valerie Glozman[WC]*

Asia Muhammad

Catherine Harrison[WC]

Ashlyn Krueger[WC]

*plays first round match Tuesday

Scott and Kalieva play each other Tuesday. Volynets is the only seeded American in either qualifying draw. All matches will be available for streaming via ESPN Plus.