Both No. 1 Seeds Exit in Third Round of ITF JB1 Pan American Closed, Local Wild Card Reaches Quarterfinals; Three of Top Five Seeds Lose in Men's ITA All-American First Round; Shelton Tops Riffice in Tiburon Challenger

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Nicholasville, Kentucky--

The Top Seed Tennis Club is hosting the ITF Grade B1 Pan American Closed for the third time this year, but it has not been kind to No. 1 seeds, with none of them reaching the finals, a streak that continues with the loss of both top seeds today in the third round.

Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico didn't look particularly comfortable yesterday in his first match of the tournament, and in today's 6-1, 6-3 loss to Liam Drover-Mattinen, he couldn't stay in rallies long enough to put any pressure on the Canadian.

"I thought I played solid, I wasn't making many mistakes and just forcing errors from him," said Drover-Mattinen. "I was pouncing on the short balls when I got the opportunity. I think he was a little nervous, maybe making a few more errors than normal, but I took advantage of that and closed out the match pretty routinely."

Drover-Mattinen said he was much more comfortable indoors than Pacheco.

"It's definitely an advantage playing against a Mexican player; they're used to the outdoor clay," said Drover-Mattinen, who trains with Ralph Platz, a former Tennis Canada coach, in Quebec. "I train inside probably eight months of the year, so these are familiar conditions and I really enjoy the courts, not too fast, not too slow, and I find that really suits my game style well."

The 17-year-old Drover-Mattinen is a senior, and with his recent rise to near the Top 200 in the ITF junior rankings, he has caught the eye of several Division I college coaches.

"I'll probably be committing soon-ish," Drover-Mattinen said. "I'm deciding that now; I've taken a few visits. My improvement has been quite rapid over the last few months, a testament to the work I've put in and I think college coaches have seen that and that's only going to benefit me in the process."

Drover-Mattinen is aware that the University of Kentucky has a pipeline to his fellow Canadians.

"I call it University of Kentucky Team Canada," said Drover-Mattinen. "It's definitely an option for me. There's a history of good coaching there and have a lot of guys who I've looked up to from the juniors. This is my first time in Lexington, and I like the area; it's very nice here."

Drover-Mattinen will face No. 10 seed Felipe Pinzon Moreno, who beat qualifier Matthew Forbes 7-5, 2-6, 6-2.

The other quarterfinal in the top half will feature No. 14 seed Roy Horovitz, a 6-1, 6-4 winner over Cooper Woestendick, and No. 9 seed Preston Stearns, the Ohio State freshman, who beat Andrew Delgado 6-4, 6-2.

Two wild cards have advanced to the quarterfinals in the bottom half, with Mitchell Lee defeating No. 15 seed Adhithya Ganesan 6-4, 7-5 and Eli Stephenson getting past No. 11 seed Marko Mesarovic 6-4, 7-6(2).

Stephenson, who is from Louisville Kentucky, found out a few days before the start of qualifying that he would be receiving a main draw wild card, and he has made good on that opportunity. He has beaten two seeds the past two days, defeating No. 7 seed Alexander Razeghi in the second round Tuesday, saving two match points and winning a third-set tiebreaker to advance.

Although there wasn't that level of drama today, Stephenson did saved set points serving at 5-6 in the second, and he has a shot he can rely on in those tight spots.

"My serve's been really good this week, it's been bailing me out on set points and match points," said the 17-year-old, who will be joining the University of Kentucky Wildcats next fall. "I'm focusing on first serves and my legs."

Although Stephenson said he hasn't played much indoors recently, he has a game that is ideal for the conditions.

"I'm comfortable at the net, so any time I can get to the net, it's a good opportunity for me," said Stephenson, who is coached by former University of Louisville player Alex Gornet. "Last year, I won one round, so I'm happy that I'm still playing."

Stephenson will face No. 2 seed Leanid Boika, who reached the third round here last year, and has lost only five games in his first two matches, beating No. 13 seed Armando Sotelo of Mexico 6-1, 6-2 today. 

Lee will play No. 12 seed Keegan Rice of Canada, who beat Nikita Filin 6-2, 6-2.

Girls top seed Mia Slama had gotten off to a slow start in her first match in Tuesday's second round and that pattern continued today in her match with Piper Charney. She wasn't able to right herself in time in the first set, but won the second set, only to immediately fall behind in the third, with Charney posting a 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 victory.

Charney, who has committed to the University of Michigan for next fall, was able to use her transition skills to keep Slama on the defensive.

"She's a good player, crafty, uses a lot of slice," said the 17-year-old from Mount Pleasant South Carolina. "So I just tried to come to the net a lot, so that if she was floating slices, she felt more pressure to make them better. I was also focusing on making more returns, because she has a good first serve."

Charney admitted that her level dropped in the second set.

"I don't think I was making some of the shots that I made in the first; some games I was in, I missed some easy shots," Charney said. "But she definitely picked up her level on the important points."

Charney, who is playing in her third J1 tournament, wasn't sure what to expect coming into this event.

"There's a lot of good players, so I was kind of hoping I would adjust to the indoors quickly, which I feel like I have," Charney said. "And play more freely, like I've been working on in practice, instead of letting myself push. Everyone's ripping indoors more."

Charney's next opponent is a familiar one, with Maddy Zampardo occasionally making the trip from Michigan to the Charleston South Carolina area to train with Charney and her coach Jonathan Stokke. 

"She's great, she rips, big serves, so that will be fun," Charney said. "It'll be totally different from today, but still little rhythm. It'll be interesting."

Zampardo, who is playing in her fifth J1 event, defeated No. 11 seed Maya Iyengar 6-2, 6-3.

The other quarterfinal in the top half also features two unseeded players, with qualifier Jessica Bernales taking on Kate Fakih, who beat No. 4 seed Iva Jovic 6-3, 6-2.

Fakih didn't come into the tournament with any success, having lost in the first round of the J3 in Quebec last month, but the practice she got at that indoor event helped her prepare for this run.

"The practice there helped me get used to the indoor courts here," said the 15-year-old, who trains with Zibu Ncube in Woodland Hills California. "And I like the courts here, they're big and spacious. But I thought, just take it one match at a time, take this slow. I was excited to see my friends and to just be playing."

Fakih said she and Jovic go back many years.

"I've known her since she was so little, probably eight years old," said Fakih. "She's so cute, she's a little doll. I know her sister [Mia]; I was friends with her sister, and I've hit with her a couple of times."

Fakih, who has been overpowering her opponents this week with her groundstrokes, continued in that vein today, 

"I was stepping into the court really well," said Fakih. "That's what I've been working on a lot. I didn't finish at the net very much, but I was stepping in and taking control of the point."

Fakih will play her friend Bernales, after Bernales saved three match points in her 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(5) victory over Shannon Lam. Serving at 3-5 in the third set, Bernales double faulted to go down 15-40, but Lam missed a forehand long on her first match point. On the second, a big forehand by Bernales forced an error from Lam. Bernales netted a forehand to give Lam a third crack at the match, but a drop shot and subsequent pass from Bernales saved that one too.

Lam didn't have another match point, despite serving for it at 5-4 and 6-5. In the tiebreaker, Bernales was down 4-2 and 5-3, but she cracked a forehand winner for 5-4, then got both points on Lam's two serves--one set up by another drop shot--to earn a match point. Bernales converted it when Lam's forehand went long, giving Bernales her fifth win this week.

The bottom half features all three seeds remaining, with No. 12 seed Maya Joint defeating No. 6 seed Ariana Pursoo 6-2, 7-6(4) to set up a meeting with unseeded Alanis Hamilton. Hamilton defeated wild card Brianna Baldi 6-2, 6-2.

No. 10 seed Alexis Harmon beat Ava Bruno 6-2, 6-3 and will face No. 2 seed Tatum Evans, who defeated Claire An 6-3, 6-2.

Seeds took the courts in doubles for the first time, and it was another disappointing loss for Pacheco, who, with partner Kaylan Bigun, was the top seed. They lost to Rohan Belday and Drover-Mattinen 7-5, 6-4. 

Top girls seeds Evans and Valeria Ray advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Slama and Bruno.  Bernales and her partner Maren Urata defeated No. 3 seed Harmon and Martyna Ostrzygalo of Canada 6-1, 6-2.

The first round of the ITA All-American Championships was played today, with some notable upsets of Top 8 seeds in both the women's tournament in Cary North Carolina and the men's tournament in Tulsa Oklahoma. 

In Cary, qualifier Abbey Forbes of North Carolina defeated No. 6 seed Carson Branstine of Texas A&M 6-4, 6-2; Natasha Subhash of Virginia defeated No. 8 seed Elizabeth Scotty of North Carolina 6-4, 6-4 and qualifier Jayci Goldsmith of Texas A&M beat No. 4 seed Cameron Morra of Duke 7-5, 6-4.

In Tulsa, No. 2 seed Cannon Kingsley of Ohio State lost to qualifier Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc of Florida State 1-6, 6-4, 6-0; No. 3 seed Inaki Montes of Virginia lost to Emile Hudd of Tennessee 6-1, 6-4, and No. 5 seed Nikola Slavic of Mississippi lost to Jeffrey von der Schulenburg of Virginia 7-5, 6-3.

Florida freshman Jonah Braswell continued his amazing run, winning his eighth match, including pre-qualifying and qualifying, to advance to the second round. He defeated fellow qualifier Trey Hilderbrand of Texas A&M 6-3, 7-6(3). 

The other freshmen to advance to Thursday's second round are wild card Ethan Quinn of Georgia, who beat qualifier Hunter Heck of Illinois 6-3, 6-1, and Alexander Bernard of Ohio State, who defeated Filip Planinsek of Alabama, a 9-16 seed, 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.

Cracked Racquets is providing its CrossCourt Cast for both the men's and women's tournaments at their YouTube Channel.

In a battle of the last two NCAA singles champions at the ATP Challenger 80 in Tiburon California, No. 4 seed Ben Shelton beat good friend and former University of Florida teammate Sam Riffice, a wild card, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to Friday's quarterfinals. Shelton will face No. 8 seed Mitchell Krueger, who defeated qualifier Nick Chappell(TCU) 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-5.