Rain Forces All Kalamazoo 16s Second Round Matches Indoors; Johnson Wins Lexington Challenger, Hanzlik Collects First Title in Decatur; Michelsen Turns Pro; Gauff Claims DC Title

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Kalamazoo MI--

Rain that began just after the boys 16s doubles matches finished Saturday night persisted throughout the night and into Sunday morning, sending today's 8 a.m. 18s consolation matches at the USTA National Championships indoors. After a brief break mid-morning, which provided some hope for outdoor matches for the second round of the boys 16s singles, the showers returned, and with little likelihood that the weather would clear, the decision was made to play the second round of the boys 16s singles indoors.

One of the perks of being one of the top seeds was the opportunity to play at Kalamazoo College's Markin Tennis Center, a block from Stowe Stadium, rather than one of the other three indoor sites that are not within walking distance. Seven of the top eight seeds played their first singles match at Markin Sunday afternoon, after seeds had received byes in the Saturday's opening round, and all made it through to the third round.

Top seed Maxwell Exsted was the first main draw second round match to go out, and he defeated Evan Rigsby 6-3, 6-1. No. 6 seed Jagger Leach was tested by 15-year-old Ford McCollum in a high-quality match on the court nearest the bleachers, with Leach getting a 6-3, 6-3 victory. No. 4 seed Jack Satterfield, the 16s Clay Courts champion, defeated Justin Lin 6-4, 6-3 and No. 3 seed Cassius Chinlund  defeated Krishna Bahdriraju 6-2, 6-1. No. 7 seed Maximus Dussault, the 16s Winter Nationals champion, downed Somei Ogata 6-1, 6-3 and No. 8 seed Matisse Farzam won the only three-set contest of the seven, defeating Cayden Wang 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. 

No. 2 seed Cooper Woestendick dropped the opening game against Ethan Chung, but then won 11 games in a row before posting a 6-1, 6-1 victory.

Woestendick had the option of playing the 18s, but cited several factors in his decision to play the 16s for the third consecutive year.

"Third time's the charm," said Woestendick, who turns 17 in November. "But my ranking for ITF isn't main draw at US Open, so I'd have to play qualies, and this is a way to get a wild card. The main reason, I would say, is that I played a really tough schedule this year. I won a lot when I was younger, but now I just want to try to get some matches under my belt, because I have a big stretch of tournaments coming up. I want to get a rhythm, get a lot of matches and hopefully do really well, make a deep run."

Woestendick, who won the ITF J300 in Indian Wells this spring, believes he could also contend in the 18s division.

"A hundred percent," Woestendick said when I asked if he felt he would have been competitive in the 18s. "If I have a good week, I feel I could win the 18s. It just seemed right to play 16s and I have two (more) years of 18s I can play, which is nice, so I thought why rush into it when I feel I have a really, really high chance of winning the 16s."

The dozens of college coaches watching his match was no surprise to Woestendick, who has been getting a steady stream of communications since he was eligible to be recruited on June 15.

"I think I got two emails at 12:01 a.m. on the first day," Woestendick said. "I'm taking it slowly, but I do want to take some visits sometime. I've heard from 50 plus colleges and it's tricky, this is the first tournament they can talk to us. It hasn't been bad so far, but we'll see. I'm just going to try to focus on my tennis, focus on the tournament."

The sole Top 8 seed who didn't play at Markin had the toughest test, with No. 5 seed Dominik Mosejczuk saving two match points in the final set tiebreaker to beat Rian Merchant 6-1, 6-7(6), 7-6(9) at the Portage YMCA.

As of 10 p.m. two matches were still on court, but all of the Top 32 seeds have completed their matches, with just three suffering losses. Mark Krupkin beat No. 13 seed Ian Mayew 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4; Benjamin Willwerth defeated No. 19 seed Maxim Kainin 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 and Ronan O'Dwyer defeated No. 24 seed Jon Gamble 6-2, 6-4. 

Rain is in the forecast for Monday, so the schedule is very much in flux, although the third round of 16s singles will not be played. (UPDATE): 16s third round singles may played Monday as weather forecast has improved. See the home page of ustaboys.com for updates on Monday's schedule.

Draws can be found here.

In tennis results from elsewhere, Steve Johnson won his second ATP Challenger title of the summer at the Lexington 75, with the No. 2 seed defeating top seed Arthur Cazaux of France 7-6(5), 6-4 in the final. Eliot Spizzirri(Texas) and Tyler Zink(Georgia/Oklahoma State), the 2019 US Open boys doubles champions, won their first Challenger doubles title in Lexington, with the wild cards beating unseeded George Goldhoff(Texas) and Vasil Kirkov 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final. 

At the $25,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit in Decatur Illinois, unseeded 21-year-old Cash Hanzlik(Tyler JC) won his first pro title, beating top seed Naoki Nakagawa of Japan 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in today's final.

University of Tennessee teammates Pat Harper of Australia and Shunsuke Mitsui of Japan, the No. 2 seeds, defeated top seeds Jacob Brumm(Cal/Baylor) and Zeke Clark(Illinois) 7-6(2), 6-4 in the doubles final.

At the $60,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament in Lexington, unseeded Renata Zarazua of Mexico defeated top seed Caroline Dolehide 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-5 in a three-hour final. Unseeded Alexis Blokhina(Stanford) and Ava Markham(Wisconsin) won the doubles title, beating No. 2 seeds Dalayna Hewitt and Australia's Olivia Gadecki 6-4, 7-6(1).

The University of Georgia announced today that 18-year-old Alex Michelsen will not be joining the Bulldogs, but instead will pursue a professional career. Michelsen, who won a Challenger and made an ATP 250 final last month, is now up to 134 in the ATP live rankings.

Coco Gauff won her fourth and biggest WTA title today in Washington DC, with the 19-year-old defeating Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-2, 6-3 in the final of the Mubadala Citi DC Open, a 500 level event. Gauff, who did not lose a set all week, is the first teenager since Caroline Wozniacki to win four WTA titles. For more on Gauff's run to the title, see this article from the WTA website.