Michigan's Gardiner Reaches 16s Quarterfinals; Van Overbeek Surprises King in 18s Action Wednesday

©Colette Lewis 2010--
Kalamazoo MI--

Two rain delays on Wednesday made for another long day at the Boys 18 and 16 Nationals, but all 16 main draw singles matches were completed, as well as the boys 18s quarterfinals in doubles.

The first and heaviest rain storm came in the the middle of four 16s singles match around 10:15 a.m. and it was approximately two and a half hours later before those matches could be resumed. Another, much lighter shower disrupted play again early in the afternoon for 50 minutes. Fortunately for the schedulers, all eight matches played in the 18s were completed in two sets, with the only three-set matches in the group of 16s that started at 9:30 a.m.

In those, No. 7 seed Mackenzie McDonald beat No. 20 seed Roy Lederman 6-1, 4-6, 6-1 and No. 4 seed Michael Redlicki defeated No. 15 seed Andrew Korinek 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Redlicki's win sets up a quarterfinal rematch of the recent Clay Court championship final against No. 5 seed Gordon Watson, which Redlicki won in three sets. Watson eased past No. 10 seed Thai Kwiatkowski 6-3, 6-1. McDonald will play No. 2 seed Mitchell Krueger, who beat unseeded Brendan Aguilar 6-2, 6-3. The quarterfinal matches in the bottom half will be played on Friday.

The four matches in the 16s top half all were straight set victories for the higher seeds, all of whom were down a break early in the opening set. Top seed Shane Vinsant trailed No. 9 seed Richard Del Nunzio but soon took control for a 6-4, 6-1 win. His opponent in one of Thursday's quarterfinals is No. 6 seed Anthony Delcore, who also was down early but finished strong. Delcore beat No. 14 seed Connor Farren 6-4, 6-1. Keeping with that same theme, No. 3 seed Nolan Paige was down 3-1 in the first set, but found his form against unseeded Zachary Mueck, earning a 6-3, 6-2 victory. No. 16 seed Tyler Gardiner won the first two games of the match, then lost the next four to No. 27 seed Howard Weiss, but emerged with a 6-4, 6-2 win.



Gardiner, from Novi, Mich., outside of Detroit, was not born the last time a Michigan player reached the quarterfinals of the 16s at Kalamazoo. In 1994, Bloomfield Hills' Michael Russell, who is still playing on the ATP World tour, won the boys 16s title. Gardiner, who turns 16 in October, is hoping to go on a similar run. As the last singles match of the day on Court 1, Gardiner knew he was going to have all eyes on him.

"I knew going in I would be the last match on, but I kind of liked it," said Gardiner. "I liked that all the focus was on our match."

In the 18s, the match between No. 6 seed Evan King and No. 9 seed Bob van Overbeek was expected to be one of the best of the day. King, who completed his freshman year at Michigan, and van Overbeek, who entered Florida this January, have been friends since the 12s and know each others games very well, although they had only met once, last year. Unfortunately, due to the rain, the match was played on court 6 rather than the front three courts, but it didn't bother van Overbeek, who served exceptionally well in his 6-4, 6-3 win.

"My strategy was to try to stay aggressive on all my service games," said van Overbeek, who also reached the quarterfinals in 2009. "Today, he definitely didn't play his best, which helped, but part of it was me putting pressure on the serve. I knew he got Big Ten freshman of the year and was one of the top picks (to win) so I didn't play with anything to lose and that was the key today."

Van Overbeek will play No. 31 seed Clay Thompson, who beat No. 13 seed Junior Ore 6-3, 6-4. Thompson faced only one break point in the match, and he saved it, getting the only two breaks he needed to advance. No. 8 seed Raymond Sarmiento looked very sharp in his 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 12 Dane Webb and will play No. 2 seed Denis Kudla, who put out the last unseeded player in the 18s, Robert Stineman, 6-4, 6-1. Those quarterfinal matches will be played on Friday.

In Thursday's quarterfinal matches, top seed Jordan Cox will play No. 29 seed Nelson Vick. Cox beat No. 21 seed Jackson Withrow 6-4, 6-2, while Vick advanced over No. 7 seed Mitchell Frank. Frank, who led 4-1 when the second rain storm came, was taken to the hospital after suffering from an irregular heartbeat that surfaced during the rain delay. He was penalized a game for being late to make the score 4-2 ret. Frank spent several hours undergoing tests in the hospital, but nothing was found and he was released Wednesday evening.

Jack Sock, seeded third, will play No. 15 seed Daniel Kosakowski in the other Thursday quarterfinal. Sock beat No. 11 seed Dennis Novikov 6-2, 7-5. With Novikov serving at 5-6 in the second set, Sock hit three consecutive drop shots, won all three points to give himself three match points, and hit a angled backhand pass to end it on the fourth. Kosakowski, the International Spring champion at Carson this spring, played just a bit steadier than No. 25 seed Marcos Giron, and came away with a 6-4, 7-5 win over his Southern Californian rival.

In the 18s doubles quarterfinals, three of the four matches were decided by the match tiebreaker.

Top seeds Cox and Kudla had a match point in the second set tiebreaker against No. 6 seed Sock and Matt Kandath, but they failed to convert it, and Sock and Kandath went on to win the tiebreaker when Cox was penalized on the last point for ball abuse. The match tiebreaker in lieu of a third set was tied at 7-7 when Kandath and Sock stepped up their games, winning the last three points. Sock hit a clean return winner off a Kudla serve to earn the 3-6, 7-6(7), 10-7 victory. Sock and Kandath will play No. 4 seed King and Sarmiento, who beat No. 12 seed Casey MacMaster and Vick 6-2, 5-7, 10-5.

Second seeds and 2009 finalists Sekou Bangoura and Nathan Pasha advanced to the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 8 seed Emmett Egger and Novikov. They will play No. 9 seed Bjorn Fratangelo and Alexios Halebian, who came from behind for a 3-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 win over unseeded Brandon Fickey and Vikram Hundal.

For complete results, see ustaboys.com.

Tags: junior tennis, Tyler Gardiner, Bob van Overbeek, USTA National Boys 16 and 18 Championships, Kalamazoo, Colette Lewis

No. 4 Seed Fratangelo and No. 5 Seed Bangoura Lose Fourth Round Matches at 18s Nationals

©Colette Lewis 2010--
Kalamazoo MI--

Clay Thompson hadn't played much since posting great results in the California ITFs this spring, but the No. 31 seed knew that he had an advantage in his fourth round matchup with No. 4 seed Bjorn Fratangelo.

"I'd been hearing that he was struggling with his back the whole tournament," Thompson said. "And I had a lot of confidence coming in."

Fratangelo retired trailing Thompson 6-0, 3-1, suffering his second loss to Thompson this year. At the International Spring Championships in Carson, where Thompson reached the finals, he beat Fratangelo 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Fratangelo went on to win both the Easter Bowl and the Clay Courts, while Thompson competed very little.

"It's just my style," Thompson said when asked about his lack of play the last three months. "I just don't really like playing that much to be honest. I just play tournament here and there. I'm ready for college; I like the team environment better."

Thompson, who will compete for the UCLA Bruins this fall, played outstanding tennis from the first point on a warm and humid day at Stowe Stadium. His serve and his forehand were not missing, and Fratangelo, who usually counts on those two shots himself, seemed a step slow.

"The first couple of games, I thought he was pretty strong and I was playing pretty strong," said Thompson, from Venice Beach, Calif. "And I was just destroying him, luckily, really hitting all my shots well. I think that definitely had to do with the confidence factor that I won last time. I came out feeling great."

Fratangelo had managed to get past two opponents while not 100 percent physically, but Thompson was too much to handle.

"He's such an experienced player, such a tough player, I was really thankful to get away with the match, even the way it turned out, which was kind of sad," Thompson said.



While Thompson hadn't played much coming into the tournament, the opposite was true of No. 25 seed Marcos Giron, who won the backdraw at the Clay Courts last month, winning 11 matches after a second round loss. That conditioning paid dividends for him against No. 5 seed Sekou Bangoura, with Giron outlasting the Florida sophomore in a three hours and 25 minute battle 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-5.

"At Clay Courts I really had to fight hard, playing two matches a day, five days straight," said the 17-year-old from Thousand Oaks, Calif. "I really had to dig deep for that tournament."

Giron had a seemingly comfortable lead at 5-2 in the third set, but it was only one break, and he never reached a match point serving at 5-3. Serving at 5-5, Giron was the beneficiary of two uncharacteristic unforced errors from Bangoura at deuce, a pattern that the usually steady Bangoura continued in the next game, when he went down 0-40. With all the ups and downs of the match, another one was almost expected, but Bangoura hit a forehand long, giving Giron his first win over Bangoura.

"It was hard to stay calm," said Giron, who didn't show any frustration after seeing his lead melt away three hours into the match. "At 5-all, I said I haven't come this far to lose. He's beaten me the two or three times we've played, but each time it's been really close. It's really nice to get the win, finally."

The top three seeds looked sharper on Tuesday than they did during rain-delayed matches Monday, with No. 1 seed Jordan Cox taking out 2009 semifinalist and No. 17 seed Mousheg Hovhannisyan 6-2, 6-2. No. 2 seed Denis Kudla was down a break in the first set to No. 30 seed Greg Andrews of Richland, Mich., but even a big lunchtime crowd couldn't pull the local favorite through. Kudla served better than he had on Monday, and despite some blazing forehands by Andrews, who said he played about as well as he could, Kudla emerged with a 7-6(1), 6-3 victory. No. 3 seed Jack Sock, who was hospitalized overnight for dehydration, beat unseeded Zachary Leslie 7-5, 6-1.

No. 6 seed Evan King, who has not played a junior tournament since entering Michigan last fall, had been cruising through the draw, losing just six games in his first three victories.

"I've been playing pretty well over the last couple of weeks, so I'm going to try to keep it going for this tournament, but there's still a bunch of matches to go," King said. "It doesn't matter what happens in the first three."

There were other top 16 seeds sent to the backdraw today, with Nick Chappell, seeded No. 10, losing to Jackson Withrow, the No. 21 seed, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 and No. 14 seed Campbell Johnson falling to No. 29 seed Nelson Vick 7-6(5), 6-4. The two-set match took over two hours and fifty minutes to complete, with both players receiving visits from the trainer, but Vick managed to serve it out despite his cramping hand.

Since the loss of No. 8 seed Maxx Lipman in the second round of the 16s, there hasn't been much drama for the top 7 seeds. No. 1 seed Shane Vinsant breezed past No. 18 seed Harrison Richmond 6-2, 6-1 and No. 2 seed Mitchell Krueger also had little difficulty advancing, defeating No. 31 seed Mac Styslinger 6-2, 6-2.

For complete draws, see ustaboys.com.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Clay Thompson, Marcos Giron, USTA Boys 18 and 16 National Championship, Kalamazoo, Colette Lewis

Top Seeds Struggle but Survive in Boys 18s Third Round Play

©Colette Lewis 2010--
Kalamazoo MI--

A seven hour rain delay caused by a storm that hit when Monday's first matches were called caused some disruption in play at the Boys 18 and 16 Nationals, but all main draw singles matches were completed, the last one under the lights at Stowe Stadium.

Whether it was the long wait or the interrupted pre-match routines or the uncertainty of resumption of play, the 18s top seeds definitely seemed off their games when they took the courts at 3 p.m.

Top seed Jordan Cox lost a first set tiebreaker to Tom Blackwell before recovering for a 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-0 victory. Second seed Denis Kudla was down 2-0 to Robert Verzaal, and looked less than sharp in his 6-3, 6-4 win. Jack Sock, seeded third, gave up the second set to Justin Rossi, but even while experiencing some vertigo, managed to post a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win.

Cox couldn't put his finger on what was missing in his game at the start of the match.

"I don't really have an answer, I'm trying to figure that out," said the 18-year-old from Atlanta. "I went out there ready to go, warmed up well, hitting the ball well, and then went really flat for a moment. I can't really explain it."

Blackwell, a Floridian who will be playing for Nebraska this fall, was able to counter Cox's power and had little trouble holding serve. Cox decided he needed to play more aggressively, especially when returning.

"I was holding pretty comfortably, but I was letting him hold every game in the first set. (In the second set) I made him play some more balls and attacked a little bit more with the forehand. He ran down a lot of balls, he grinded out there, he's a good player."

Sock held a 5-3 lead in the first set when he began to feel dizzy, a condition that has been bothering him recently at tournaments.

"I get light-headed and I get dizzy," Sock said. "We've looked at everything--thought it was heat stroke at one, dehydrated. But this is the most prepared I've ever felt for a tournament, so I don't really understand what happened today. All he really had to do was put a couple balls in the court and move me side to side and I wasn't going to get them."

Sock was down 1-0 and 2-1 in the third set, but Rossi was unable to build any momentum with those breaks, losing the last five games.

There were no notable upsets in the third round, with only three seeded players, all in the 17-32 range, falling. No. 20 seed Billy Pecor lost to Zachary Leslie 6-3, 6-3, No. 28 seed Jeffrey Offerdahl went out to Jason Tahir 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, and in the day's most dramatic match, No. 19 seed Wyatt McCoy was beaten by Danny Riggs 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(7).

Riggs, the hero of Florida's recent USTA National Team Championship, trailed 5-3 in the third set, won three straight games, but was unable to serve out the match at 6-5. In the tiebreaker, Riggs trailed 4-2, but began to hit out more and take a few more chances. Some very calm play on a couple of challenging overheads and a deft backhand volley winner earned him a match point at 6-5, but it was McCoy who won the next two points to have his chance to end it. McCoy couldn't convert and it was Riggs who forced the action in the final two points. Several dozen spectators, including an array of college coaches, clustered around the bleachers on Court 11, and when McCoy's final shot went wide, there was a buzz of conversation about the excitement level of the match.

The 16s third round matches were all played at Western Michigan University's courts. The top seeds, Shane Vinsant and Mitchell Krueger, won in straight sets, and there were only two seeds falling in third round play. No. 11 seed Jordan Daigle lost to Nicolas Montoya 6-4, 7-5 and No. 26 seed Nicholas Naumann lost to Andrew Ball 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The third round of boys 16 doubles, originally scheduled for today, was postponed until Tuesday.

For complete draws and results, see ustaboys.com

Tags: junior tennis, USTA National Tennis Championships, Jack Sock, Jordan Cox, Kalamazoo, Colette Lewis

Katie Goepel Profile; Monday Weather Update at Boys Nationals

We dodged the storms in the area on Sunday in Kalamazoo, but it doesn't look like we'll be so fortunate today. Check the twitter feed for more information as the day progresses.

In the meantime, check out the recruiting profile I did on Katie Goepel for the Tennis Recruiting Network.

Tags: college tennis, junior tennis, Katie Goepel, Tennis Recruiting Network, USTA Boys 16 and 18 National Championships, Colette Lewis

Levine's Upset of No. 8 Seed Lipman Highlights Second Round of 16s Nationals

©Colette Lewis 2010--
Kalamazoo MI--

The 16s division takes center stage on Sunday at the Boys 18 and 16 National Championships, and the dawn-to-dusk singles action at Stowe Stadium produced a couple of impressive comebacks.

Topping the list of turnarounds was Josh Levine's 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over No. 8 seed Maxx Lipman, a match that had all the pressure of a Stowe Stadium front court (No. 2) and a large lunchtime crowd. Although Levine had played on a front court in his opening round match Saturday, he admitted that the atmosphere resulted in jitters today as well.

"I came out a little nervous--center courts, eighth seed, Kalamazoo--but after that first set I kept my composure and got it together," said the 16-year-old from Syosset, New York.

The 16s division still mandates a 10 minute break between the second and third sets, and despite having the momentum of winning the second set, Levine took the hiatus in stride.

"I talked to my dad and he gave me some good advice," said Levine. "Stay with it, keep doing what you're doing. This kid's nervous, he's seeded, so just go out there and do your best, fight."

Levine called the win over Lipman one of his best, and put his level of play in the last two sets at 9 and a half on a scale of 1 to 10.

"It's an even bigger win since it's at Kalamazoo," Levine said. "I just feel great right now."

Gordon Watson, the fifth seed, was making his debut in Kalamazoo, after a bout with Lyme disease kept him from competing at the Nationals last year. The 2010 Easter Bowl champion's first set of singles at Kalamazoo was just short of a nightmare, but he didn't panic, earning a 1-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Luca Corinteli.

"In the beginning I was nervous, he was nervous, but he hit a couple of really good shots to get the break and then he just outplayed me in the first set," Watson said. "I made a few unforced errors, missed too many first serves, and he capitalized on that."

Corinteli, who turn 15 last month, was playing a very big game, and his first serve was regularly clocked at over 100 mph by the center court radar gun. But as the match wore on, Watson began to read the serve better and get his returns in play more often, while protecting his own serve. Watson was not broken in the second set, breaking Corinteli twice, and then Watson got an unusual break of serve to open the third set, when Corinteli was penalized for returning to the court late after the 10 minute break.

"He was really frustrated. He thought the ref had called time when he was walking on the court, but it was before. He thought it was unfair," said Watson. "That really helped me in the first three or four games, because he was still mad at that."

Corinteli held serve once in the final set, but his errors mounted, while Watson kept the pressure on.

"I think the mental really got to him, because he was so frustrated after that game penalty," Watson said. "You got to keep your head strong, no matter what happens out there with the ref or the ball kids or whatever. You've just got to keep a level head."

In addition to Lipman, four other seeded players lost in Sunday's second round. Trey Strobel defeated No. 12 seed Anthony Tsodikov 6-3, 6-2, Brendan Aguilar downed Alex Van Cott, seeded 13th, 6-1, 6-0, Zachary Mueck beat No. 12 seed Corey Robinson 6-2, 7-5, and in a very entertaining and high quality match, Trey Daniel defeated No. 28 seed Gregory Garcia 6-4, 6-4 Sunday evening.

The only 18s action on Sunday was in doubles, at Western Michigan University. Seven of the top eight seeds were in action, and all of them advanced to the round of 16, scheduled for Tuesday.

For complete draws, see ustaboys.com.

Tags: junior tennis, USTA National Boys 16 and 18 Championships, Josh Levine, Gordon Watson, Kalamazoo, Colette Lewis

Fourth Seed Fratangelo Survives Match Point to Lead Top Eight Seeds into 18s Nats Third Round

©Colette Lewis 2010--
Kalamazoo, MI--

Jordan Cox, Denis Kudla and Jack Sock, the top three seeds in the 18s division, played their first matches Saturday at Stowe Stadium, and all three advanced in straight sets. Kudla, seeded third, had the most emphatic win, defeating Axel Bouillin 6-0, 6-2. Cox had more difficulty with Christopher Cox, (no relation), taking that second round win 6-4, 7-5. Jack Sock, the only player of the three not yet a professional, drew the most college coaches to his match on Court 6, and they watched the 17-year-old from Nebraska take down Aaron Pfister of Grand Blanc, Michigan 6-2, 6-4.

Fourth seed Bjorn Fratangelo had considerably more trouble with Brandon Fickey, who held a match point in the second set against the 2010 Spring, Easter Bowl and Clay Court champion before falling 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2.

When trying to close out a win over a player with Fratangelo's credentials, a little luck never hurts, but Fickey's luck on that match point was bad, not good. After missing his first serve at 6-5, 40-30 in the second set, he was about to take his second serve when a ballrunner from the adjacent court threw a ball behind the court to another ballrunner two courts away. The umpire and Fratangelo saw the throw, but Fickey, with his back to it, did not. He asked for a first serve, but the chair umpire ruled he had not started his service motion, and although he argued briefly, he hit a second serve, which he netted. Although several observers thought Fickey was entitled to a first serve, Fratangelo was not among them.

"As he was putting his arm up for the toss, the ball came over. The toss hadn't come out of his hand yet," said Fratangelo. "Then I guess he got tight, double faulted. He kept thinking about that, kept talking about that, and I guess his mind went away."

By the end of the second set, neither player looked at full strength. Fratangelo had the trainer out between the second and third sets for his back, while Fickey appeared to be limping, perhaps from cramps. But it was Fratangelo who got the early advantage in the third set, breaking Fickey in the opening game, and he protected that lead to the end.

Fickey, a rising senior from Tennessee, put Fratangelo on the defensive early with both consistency and a willingness to try some different strategies. He went to the drop shot often, sliced regularly and volleyed occasionally, especially in the first set.

Fratangelo admitted that he had difficulty adjusting to both Fickey's game and the speed of the Stowe Stadium courts.

"Coming from the clays and going to the hard courts, your body isn't used to the surface," Fratangelo said. "The courts are playing pretty quick this year too. He'd come in on random balls, even in no man's land, and he'd jump and hit a drop shot, which was something I wasn't expecting. He's a good player though. I scouted him before and he's pretty tough."

With all the success that Fratangelo has had in USTA 18s tournaments this year, the 17-year-old arrived in Kalamazoo with his confidence high.

"I feel good, I feel confident, although I don't know if today I showed it," he said. "In my game, I'm finding another gear that I can go to. It's something that I know I can do in the back of my mind. It gives me a lot of confidence to go three sets, to keep playing and fighting."

The only top 16 seed to lose in the opening round of play was clay court finalist Alexios Halebian, the 16th seed, who was beaten by Shaun Bernstein 6-3, 6-2 at the Western Michigan site. Evan Song, the 24th seed, needed 3 hours and 43 minutes before finally getting past Ashok Narayana 7-5, 2-6, 7-6, also at Western Michigan.

There will be no back-to-back Kalamazoo titles for 2009 16s champion Gonzales Austin, the 22nd seed, who fell to Austin Smith 7-6(4), 6-3. Other seeds losing in their first matches (in the second round) were No. 27 Casey McMaster, who lost to Christopher Mengel 6-1, 6-1, and No. 32 Nathan Pasha, who lost to Michael Alford 6-3, 6-2.

In the 16s, the seeded players will take the court for the first time in Sunday's second round. The 18s singles players take the day off with the round of 32 for 18s doubles scheduled for Sunday.

Several seeded 16s doubles teams were ousted in the second round, including No. 3 seeds Anthony Delcore and Mackenzie McDonald, who lost to Robbie Bellamy and Abraham Hewko 10-6 in a third set tiebreaker. For complete results, see ustaboys.com.

Tags: junior tennis, USTA Boys 18 and 16 National Championships, Bjorn Fratangelo, Brandon Fickey, Kalamazoo, Colette Lewis