Jauffret Ousts Fifth Seed Singh in Nearly Four-Hour Battle to Reach Kalamazoo 16s Fourth Round; Top 16s Seeds Stolarczyk and Syed Tested But Through in Straight Sets
©Colette Lewis 2026--
Kalamazoo MI--
After a day off Sunday, those in the main draw of the USTA National Boys Championships 16s division returned to the courts Monday, after a one-hour delay due to wet courts due to a second storm overnight.
In the third round matches played at both Kalamazoo College's Stowe Stadium and Western Michigan University, upsets were not rare, with the No. 5, 6 and 7 seeds all going out in grueling contests in the oppressive heat and humidity.
No one did a better job of surviving those conditions than No. 33 seed Carter Jauffret, who blew a 4-0 first set lead, served for the match twice in the third set and was down a mini-break in the deciding tiebreaker before posting a 6-7(2), 6-2, 7-6(4) win over No. 5 seed Kahven Singh in three hours and 54 minutes.
Jauffret, who was out for eight months with a stress fracture in his dominant right hand, was able to see the positives even as that first set slipped away.
"Once I lost that first set, I knew that I had the level, I just needed to string it all together," said the 16-year-old from Wilmington Delaware, who is the younger brother of Capucine Jauffret, who is competing this week in San Diego. "He started dealing with fatigue and some potential cramps toward the end of the second set, and then it just became cramps for the two of us in the third set."
Jauffret, who served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the third set, and had a match point in that tenth game, saved by Singh with a brave backhand volley winner, was surprised he couldn't serve it out.
"I wasn't in my head about not being able to hold my serve, because I couldn't bend my legs," Jauffret said. "So the serve essentially became irrelevant. It was could I get a kick to the placement where I wanted, or was it going to be in the middle of the box. So once he broke, I knew I would have to play a gritty tiebreak and I came up with some shots I don't think I could do again if I had 15 chances."
One of those shots came with Singh serving at 4-3 in the tiebreaker, with a slick Jauffret pass with his one-handed backhand getting him back on serve.
"That backhand pass, you give me 20 balls, I'll miss all 20," said Jauffret, who had missed a backhand pass he thought he should have made when he was serving for the match. "So I'm happy to be moving on."
Due to his cramping, Jauffret didn't sit down at changeovers and only was in the chair briefly in the 10-minute break between the second and third sets.
"I haven't dealt with cramps too many times, but I've seen it all on TV, at tournaments, when a guy sits down and doesn't get back up," said Jauffret, who had his older brother Connor providing coaching and encouragement during the break. "I knew the strategy, I knew what I needed to do. I knew his weaknesses, he knew my weaknesses, it was actually who could be fit enough to win a specific point and then a whole set."
Jauffret will play one of the four unseeded players remaining in the round of 32: Joseph Garrean, the Midwest Closed champion.
Garrean defeated the reigning 16s USTA Clay Courts champion Gurbaaz Narang, the No. 18 seed, 7-5, 6-7(7), 2-1, ret.
No. 6 seed Colter Amey retired in his match with No. 33 seed Maddox Iliescu, who advanced with a 3-6, 6-4, 2-1 ret. victory, and No. 7 seed Eli Kaminski lost to No. 33 seed Niranjan Ramalingam 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
Unseeded George Ho beat No. 12 seed Piotr Gradzki 6-2, 7-6(5), unseeded Nirbhay Agarwal defeated No. 30 seed Ishaan Marla 7-5, 6-0 and unseeded Alexander Lerman defeated No. 33 seed Paul Bower 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Although top seed Kamil Stolarczyk and No. 2 seed Sulaiman Syed both got through in straight sets, they were tested in their matches on the George Acker Center Court.
"He was playing well, and I definitely wasn't expecting it to be this long at the end," the 16-year-old from Glendale New York said of his 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 33 seed Andres Quijada. "I was up 5-1, and it was more of a mental thing than a physical thing, which is fine, because you can always work on that. But it was a tough match, quite physical and he didn't miss much toward the end at all, so I had to work for it. In the first set he was throwing errors left and right, but he got into the match, he was playing well."
Stolarczyk will face No. 21 seed Aayush Vartak in the fourth round Tuesday.
Syed was at 4-all in his first set against No. 33 seed Damian Gutheil before finding his rhythm and closing it out 6-4, 6-1.
"I actually warmed up in the indoor center, so the court was a little different, so I had to adjust to it," said the 16-year-old from Chesterbrook Pennsylvania, who, like Jauffret, has a one-handed backhand. "I went down an early break, but I kept on believing, staying positive. I thought I was serving well, so it was just staying in the match, every point. I relaxed a little bit, got used to the ball, found a little more rhythm on my groundstrokes. I was getting more looks in my return games and I was able to take advantage of my opportunities."
Syed will face the unseeded Lerman in the fourth round Tuesday.
The third round of doubles was also played Monday evening, with no major upsets. The top four seeded in both the 16s and 18s advanced to the round of 16 without dropping a set.
The weather forecast for Tuesday contains a chance for thunderstorms with the fourth round of singles in both age divisions and the fourth round of 18s doubles on the schedule. There are no 16s doubles on the schedule for Tuesday. Play begins with the 16s singles at 9 a.m., with all matches at Stowe Stadium.
The seeds in the USTA Nationals 18s division in San Diego played for the first time today, with the Top 8 seeds, and Annika Penickova, a No. 33 seed, advancing to the third round. The 16s third round today is not yet complete, but so far there have been no major upsets.
Cracked Racquets is providing four hours of coverage of San Diego competition each day at their YouTube channel.
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