Summer School at Ohio State Leads Carpico to Upset of Bigun in Second Round of Kalamazoo 18s; Top Six Seeds Cruise into Third Round

©Colette Lewis 2023--
Kalamazoo MI--

Brandon Carpico enrolled at Ohio State this summer and cited his two months of training with the Buckeyes for the stamina he displayed in his 7-6(6), 6-7(7), 4-2 retired victory over No. 7 seed Kaylan Bigun today in second round Boys 18s action at Stowe Stadium.

But as important as the physical component of the three-hour and 32-minutes match was, putting aside the frustrations that had sabotaged him in the past was crucial.

Carpico served for the first set at 5-4, and trailed 6-2 in the tiebreaker, but took the final six points to put that disappointment behind him. He served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but again couldn't close it out, and missed out on a match point serving at 6-5 in the second set tiebreaker, netting a forehand on that opportunity and eventually losing the set.

"I've been working on mental game for a long time now," said the 18-year-old from Blacklick Ohio. "A few years ago, I used to get super, super frustrated, nervous energy that I couldn't let out in any other way. I spent a lot of time with my coach Chase Buchanan, and now the Ohio State coaches, learning just to let everything go and think about the next point. It's been a long process, but I'm glad I've gotten a lot better at it."

Buchanan, the 2009 Kalamazoo 18s champion, did not travel to Kalamazoo this year, but had an opportunity to watch the match on the live stream and was able to offer some suggestions when Carpico phoned him during the 10-minute break between the second and third sets. 

Carpico went up 2-0 and 3-1 in the third set, but then all manner of mishaps surfaced for both players.

"I was up 3-1 in his service game in the third set and I slid for a ball and my shoe broke bad enough that it burned through my sock," Carpico said. "I asked my mom to go to the car--we had parked all the way up the hill--and grab some shoes. Then his shoelace broke, then he started cramping. There was a lot going on in the third set."

With Carpico serving at 3-2, Bigun went back to the fence behind the baseline, wobbled and fell in a heap. With cool and cloudy conditions, heat related cramping didn't seem an obvious reason for his distress, but it was obvious he wasn't moving normally. A trainer came to court quickly, and Bigun was able to walk unsteadily to his chair, where he consulted briefly with the trainer and had his wrist taped, possibly due to a scrape suffered in the fall. After Carpico won the game to go up 4-2, Bigun again fell to the court, this time in the alley on the other side of the court, and this time the delay was brief, as he retired immediately after that second fall. He was able to leave the court under his own power, but Carpico was understandably ambivalent about the circumstances of his win.

"It was definitely not the way I wanted it to end," Carpico said. "It was an unbelievable match, the level was super high, we were out there for close to four hours. It sucks to win like that, but I'm happy with the way I played. I'm in the next round and happy about that, but you hate to see end that way, especially with Kaylan, he's such a nice guy to everybody."

Carpico was aware that Bigun had made the quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Junior Championships last month, but he was determined not to focus on Bigun's resume and seeding.

"It was a little intimidating for sure, I knew he was an unbelievable player, but when I was walking on the court, I was saying, he's just another kid," Carpico said. "He's got nerves, just like everyone else, and it's his first singles match here. If I went out on the court thinking oh my god, he's so good, he quarterfinaled at Wimbledon, I knew he would beat me pretty good, so I had to think he's just another player and I think I was able to take advantage of that."

After a three-set match yesterday in the first round as well as a doubles match, Carpico is ready for a light day Sunday, with just a third round doubles match, with partner Carter Pate, on tap for the afternoon.

"Thankfully, we'll have a day off (from singles)," Carpico said. "And I'm very much looking forward to that."

A quarter of the 18s seeds lost today, but 13 of 16 who were eliminated in their first matches after having byes Friday were No. 33 seeds. The three top 32 seeds losing were Bigun, No. 19 seed Tygen Goldammer, who lost to Parashar Bharadwaj 6-2, 6-2, and No. 26 seed William Manning who closed out the day's action under the lights at Stowe Stadium with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 loss to Matteo Antonescu.

The top six seeds met with very little resistance today, losing only 16 games between them.  Top seed Learner Tien began his defense of the 18s title with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Sachiv Kumar, while No. 2 seed Nishesh Basavareddy won his first singles match in Kalamazoo, defeating Brennon Chow 6-1, 6-2.

The first round of 16s singles was played today, with the 16s seeds making their debuts in Sunday's second round. Due to weather concerns--rain began late Saturday evening only minutes after the last matches of the second round of boys doubles were completed--the schedule continues to be adjusted, and now with rain a possibility both Sunday and Monday, it could change again. Check out ustaboys.com home page for all updates on scheduling.

There is live streaming at the four indoor courts at Kalamazoo College's Markin Center, as well as the 11 outside courts at Stowe Stadium. Live streams can be found at ustaboys.com.

Live scoring is available for all courts at both Stowe and Western via ioncourt.com.

All results from today's matches are available at the USTA tournament website.