Leach Takes Out Top Seed Exsted to Reach B16s Semifinals; Tien and Williams Upset in B18s Doubles Semifinals; US Girls Lose in ITF World Junior Tennis Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Kalamazoo, MI--

The rain forecast for Friday afternoon never materialized and that wasn't the only unexpected result at the Boys 16s and 18s USTA National Championships.  Maxwell Exsted, the top seed in 16s singles lost to Jagger Leach, while the top two seeds in 18s doubles fell in the semifinals.

Leach, the son of Lindsay Davenport and Jon Leach, could not have been happier with his level in the 6-4, 6-3 victory on Stowe Stadium Court 2.

"That was one of the best matches I've played all year," said the 16-year-old, who now lives in Sarasota Florida. "I had some jitters at the start of the match, but then I got going and started playing well, so yeah, it's definitely my best match."

Leach cited the eighth game as a key to his victory, coming back from 15-40 serving at 3-4 in the first set. 

"At that point I was just trying to take it one point at a time," said the sixth-seeded Leach. "And then I just kind of got on a roll."

Up 4-1 two breaks in the second set, Leach knew better than to begin thinking ahead, given the stature of his opponent.

"He's done a lot winning so he has like this aura, so he can start a match up 3-love on a player because they might not believe," Leach said. "It was a comfort to have two breaks, but I wasn't very comfortable because I know Max can come back from that. So I was like, I need to hold, I need to hold. Then I didn't play my best game, Max loosened up and that was where I was like, shoot, now we're going to be in a battle."

That battle didn't materialize, with Leach dictating the points and coming forward when he had the opportunity. With a quick hold to go up 5-3, Leach kept the pressure on and he finished with another break of serve.

"I actually played some really good tennis and got a few errors in the last couple of games too, which definitely helped," Leach said. 

Leach will face No. 27 seed Lachlan Gaskell, who defeated No. 5 seed Dominick Mosejczuk 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in just over three hours.

Gaskell went up 5-1 in the second set, only to lose his two-break lead.

"I started getting flustered, thinking I could win this set and this match," said the 16-year-old left-hander from Delray Beach, Florida. "That wasn't the reason I choked, but up 5-3, 40-15 and I lose that game, I'm like oh, crap, this could go bad. But luckily I played a good return game at 5-4 in the second and got that."

Up a break 4-1 in the third set, Gaskell managed to stay in front, but serving for the match at 5-3, he went down 0-40, five points later he had the win, with not even a time violation warning prior to the match point breaking his concentration.

"It's always good to finish on the first match point, because you don't want to get into a cycle," said Gaskell, who beat No. 9 seed Joseph Oyebog 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 in a grueling fourth round match. "I'm pretty tired with these full third sets really taking a lot out of you. I was there at the end, lasted a little longer physically, he was cramping towards the end of the third set. It's tough out there, luckily today was cloudy and a little bit cooler, otherwise it might have been different."

The other two quarterfinals were decided in straight sets, with No. 32 seed Noah Johnston defeating No. 3 seed Simon Caldwell 7-6(4), 6-4, to the dismay of the hundreds of fans from the area supporting Caldwell, a Grand Rapids resident. Johnston will play No. 2 seed Cooper Woestendick, who defeated No. 10 seed Jack Kennedy 6-0, 6-2.

The 16s semifinals are scheduled to begin Saturday at 9:30 a.m., followed by the 18s semifinals, not before 11 a.m. on Courts 2 and 3 at Stowe Stadium. Top seed Learner Tien will play No. 5 seed Cooper Williams, with No. 10 seed Trevor Svajda taking on Nishesh Basavareddy.

The doubles finals are set for Saturday, after two upsets in the 18s semifinals Friday afternoon.

Top seeds and 2023 Australian Open boys champions Williams and Tien lost to No. 7 seeds Alexander Frusina and Adithya Ganesan 6-3, 6-1. Tien and Williams, who played an outstanding tiebreaker in the quarterfinals, were unable to find that level Friday afternoon, while Frusina and Ganesan were sharp and motivated throughout.

While Tien will be defending his 2022 singles title in Saturday's semifinals, Nicholas Godsick will not win this third straight title after claiming the 16s in 2021 and the 18s in 2022. Godsick and Aidan Kim, the No. 2 seeds, were beaten by No. 3 seeds Nishesh Basavareddy and Kyle Kang 6-4, 6-2.

In the 16s doubles semifinals, top seed Exsted and Woestendick defeated No. 3 seeds Ian Mayew and Oliver Narbut 6-3, 7-6(2). Woestendick, who won the 16s doubles title last year with Mitchell Lee, will go for his second straight against No. 14 seeds Nicholas Patrick and Maxim Kalinin. Patrick and Kalinin defeated No. 4 seeds Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance 6-1, 7-5.

The doubles finals will begin Saturday with the 16s not before 1:30 p.m., followed by the 18s not before 2:30 p.m. A main draw wild card into US Open men's doubles goes to the winner of the 18s championship.

Live streaming is available through ustaboys.com.

Live scoring is provided by ioncourt.com.

All results, including consolation matches, can be found here.

Saturday's singles results from the other USTA National Championships: 

Girls 18s quarterfinal results:

Clervie Ngounoue[1] d. Tatum Evans[5] 6-2, 6-0

Valerie Glozman[6] d. Victoria Osuigwe[3] 6-2, 6-3

Eleana Yu[17] d. Piper Charney[17] 7-6(3), 6-3

Katherine Hui[17] d. Reese Brantmeier[2] 7-5, 7-6(7)

Yu is the defending champion, having defeated Glozman in last year's final.

Girls 16s semifinals:

Christina Lyutova[1] d. Julieta Pareja[9] 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-1

Anita Tu[7] d. Anna Frey[11] 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3

Girls 14s semifinal results:

Reagan Levine[3] d. Reiley Rhodes[7] 6-1, 3-6, 6-4

Lyla Middleton[6] d. Ellery Mendell[4] 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 

Girls 12s semifinal results:

Allison Wang[1] d. Nikol Davletshina[3] 4-6, 6-2, 6-4

Daniela Davletshina[5] d. Daniela Del Mastro[4] 6-1, 1-6, 6-2

Boys 14s semifinal results:

Tanishk Konduri[3] d. Safir Azam[5]  6-3, 7-5

Erik Schinnerer[4] d. James Andrew Ross[17] 6-4, 6-1

Boys 12s semifinal results:

Joshua Dolinsky[3] d. Payton Yea[17] 6-4, 6-3 

Tristan Ascenzo[2] d. Rex Kulman[5] 6-0, 6-4

The US girls lost in the semifinals of the ITF World Junior Tennis 14-and-under Team Championships today in the Czech Republic, to Germany 2-0. They will play in the bronze medal match against Serbia on Saturday.  The US boys lost in the quarterfinals to Canada, and will play for fifth place Saturday against Turkey after beating Brazil today. Both Czech teams are in the finals, with the girls playing Germany and the boys playing Canada.