ITF J1 Eddie Herr Qualifying Begins Saturday; Ngounoue Advances to Semifinals at JA in Merida; Seeds Struggle at USTA National Indoor Championships

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Bradenton FL--

Last year's Eddie Herr International Junior Championships were held in the midst of construction on the IMG Academy's new tennis and basketball facility, but this year all the inconveniences are in the rearview mirror. Two stadium courts, one hard and one Har-Tru, will be in use throughout the tournament, and five indoor courts were being used for qualifying today in the 12s, 14s, and 16s division. There are also four new red clay courts, which won't be used this week, with the ITF J1 held on the same Har-Tru courts as before, with the addition of the stadium court.

Due to rain and wet courts earlier in the week, the second round of qualifying for the younger divisions was still going on after dark this evening; the third round will be Saturday and the fourth and final round will take place Sunday.

Both qualifying draws for the ITF J1 are full, with play beginning at 8:30 on Saturday. Top seed in the boys qualifying, with an ITF junior ranking of 153, is Gonzalo Zeitune of Argentina. Marko Mesarovic is the top seed among Americans, at No. 3. The top seed in the girls qualifying is Antonia Vergara Rivera of Chile, ranked 168. Three Americans follow her in the seedings, Kaitlyn Rolls, Alexia Harmon and Maya Iyengar.

The singles quarterfinals are still in progress at the JA in Merida Mexico. Cooper Williams, the No. 7 seed, is the only American boy still in contention for a title, having reached the singles quarterfinals and the doubles semifinals, with partner Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez of Mexico.

Three US girls advanced to the quarterfinals: No. 5 seed Clervie Ngounoue, No. 9 seed Mia Slama and unseeded Ariana Pursoo. Ngounoue advanced to the singles semifinals with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-0 win over No. 16 seed Mingge Xu of Great Britain. Slama and Pursoo are playing each other in the quarterfinals later tonight in the bottom half, so another American semifinalist is assured. Ngounoue is also competing in the doubles semifinals tonight, with partner Amelie Smejkalova of the Czech Republic. 

The USTA National Indoor Championships began today and will run through Monday. Most age divisions had two rounds of singles today, so not all the draws are updated for those second round matches. Below are the top 8 seeds in each division, along with notations on those who have already lost. Click on age division to go to each draw.

B18s Overland Park Kansas

1. Dylan Tsoi (lost 1st rd)

2. Tygen Goldammer (lost 2nd rd)

3. Connor Smillie (lost 1st rd)

4. Alex Fuchs

5. Stephan Gershfeld

6. Sanjeev Chundu (lost 1st rd)

7. Caden Hasler

8. Greyson Casey (lost 1st rd)

G18s Indianapolis Indiana

1. Valerie Glozman

2. Stephanie Yakoff

3. Esha Velaga

4. Natasha Rajaram (lost 2nd rd)

5. Kaitlyn Carnicella 

6. Maddy Zampardo

7. Audrey Spencer (lost 2nd rd)

8. Amber Yin (lost 1st rd)

B16s Chicago Illinois

1. Brody Nejedly Krall (lost 1st rd)

2. Krish Gupta 

3. Nolan Balthazor (lost 1st rd)

4. Dominick Mosejczuk

5. Nicolas Patrick

6. Troy Kudrjavtsev

7. Ian Mayew

8. Evan Burnett (lost 1st rd)

G16s Minneapolis Minnesota

1. Kristina Penickova

2. Catherine Shen

3. Rachel Lee

4. Leena Friedman

5. Grace Li

6. Kaede Usui

7. Sophia Holod

8. Annika Penickova

B14s Chicago Illinois

1. Jack Secord

2. Liam Alvarez

3. Colin McPeek (lost 2nd rd)

4. Ilias Bouzoubaa

5. Shaan Patel

6. Abraham Rosett (withdrew, illness)

7. Roshan Santhosh (lost 2nd rd)

8. James Quattro

G14s Toledo Ohio 

1. Christina Lyutova

2. Isabelle DeLuccia

3. Alyson Shannon

4. Kaia Giribalan

5. Brooke Kwon

6. Kori Montoya

7. Victoria Mann (lost 1st rd)

8. Carrie-Anne Hoo

B12s Indianapolis, Indiana

1. Antanas Daugis

2. Diego Custodio

3. Zesen Wang

4. Dylan Meineke

5. Advay Singh

6. Karan Shanker

7. Aryan Ponugoti (lost 1st rd)

8. Aayush Vartak

G12s Manchester, Massachusetts

1. Lani Chang

2. withdrew

3. Aarini Bhattacharya

4. Priscilla Sirichantho

5. Kathryn Cragg

6. Michelle Lee (lost 1st rd)

7. Grace Hong

8. Camilla Olga Castracani