Seven of Top Eight Seeds Reach 18s Quarterfinals at Kalamazoo; Lui Saves Three Match Points to Advance in 16s; Both USA Teams Advance to World Junior Tennis Semifinals

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

It wasn't easy, with both No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh and No. 6 seed Reilly Opelka needing three sets, but seven of the Top 8 seeds in the 18s division of the USTA National Championships have reached the quarterfinals.

The sole player outside the Top 8, No. 12 Eduardo Nava, had the easiest day of the eight, with No. 22 seed Brandon Holt retiring with a hamstring injury down 2-1 in the first set of their round of 16 match.

Mmoh's 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 20 seed and 2014 16s champion John McNally required an adjustment from Mmoh, the third-ranked junior player in the world.

"He really caught me by surprise," said Mmoh, who is now on a nine-match winning streak after his title at the Godfrey Futures two weeks ago. "He was staying on top of the baseline and just penetrating through the court. I hadn't really played a guy that was that consistent hitting big balls through the court so it was definitely tough for me to adjust. I thought he played really well today, stuck with his game plan, being aggressive and dictating from the baseline."

Mmoh said that he found coming forward worked well for him in Godfrey, so he has continued that strategy this week.

"I wasn't feeling too comfortable in the baseline exchanges," Mmoh said. "At the Futures, my kick serve was bouncing really high so I was coming in, and it was working really well. These courts are really fast, so I knew I could do the same and it would be effective. Definitely, my serve and volleying and coming to the net won me the match today."

Opelka blinked on a volley in the second set of his 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over No. 30 seed Nathan Perrone and Perrone seized his opportunity.

"That killed me, that volley," Opelka said of his miss at 4-4 in the second. "But also that game was pretty sloppy as well. I double faulted twice at deuce so I was lucky to still have a chance to win that game. But that volley, you can't miss it, especially at that time. But, oh well."

His frustration at losing his serve led Opelka to toss his racquet, forgetting that there is no warning for racquet abuse in the USTA rules, as there is in ITF and ATP rules.  With Opelka assessed a point penalty for it, Perrone needed to win only three points to send the match to a third set, and he got them.

Opelka got a break to open the third set, which relaxed him a bit, although Perrone kept it close.

"It got interesting," Opelka said. "I think there was a 30-all game at 4-2 me serving, he had a chance in that game, but other than that it was pretty comfortable in third set."

Opelka said he knew he only previous meeting with Perrone, a 6-0, 6-0 win, would not be repeated today on George Acker Court in Kalamazoo.

"I was expecting it to be a lot different today," said the Wimbledon boys champion. "It's just different now. But he played well. He didn't miss many backhands and he looked to move his forehand around. He just made it tough for me to attack him. He didn't do anything special, just played a high-quality neutral ball and moved me around a lot, so it was difficult for me to find a ball that I like to hit and move forward."

Opelka's opponent in Thursday's quarterfinal, one of two that will be played in the 18s, is top seed Frances Tiafoe, who beat No. 10 seed Nathan Ponwith 6-2, 6-2.

"I played him once last year at a Futures and won 6-4 in the third," Opelka said. "Tough match, clay. I haven't played him in a while on hard. We've had plenty of battles for sure, and he's obviously a completely different player now than last year, and so am I. It should be interesting. He's the favorite for the tournament, the guy to beat."

Opelka said despite Tiafoe's recent success, his peers are not intimidated.

"We think we can beat anyone," Opelka said. "We all have beaten him, so that helps. But obviously. he's tough. He's not Top 300 ATP for no reason, especially now. He's playing really well and he wants to win, wants to play in the main draw of another grand slam, just as bad as anyone else, which makes it even tougher. I'm going to have to play well tomorrow, really well."

The other 18s quarterfinal will feature No. 4 seed Tommy Paul, who defeated No. 11 seed Oliver Crawford 7-6(3), 6-3, against No. 7 seed and close friend Alex Rybakov, who beat unseeded Logan Smith 6-4, 7-6(5).

Jonathan Kelley of the On The Rise blog is in Kalamazoo, and he wrote this feature on Rybakov after talking with him today after his win over Smith.

The Friday quarterfinals will feature Mmoh playing No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz in a first-ever meeting, after Fritz blitzed No. 13 seed Dennis Uspensky 6-0, 6-1, and No. 3 seed Stefan Kozlov facing Nava.

Kozlov defeated unseeded Michael Genender 6-4, 6-4, the fourth consecutive match in which he has won the same number of games in each set.

Kozlov led 4-1 in the final set, but Genender fought back to pull even before the 17-year-old from Florida broke to take the match.

"The guy started playing really well," said Kozlov. "We all saw what he did with those volleys and I got a little defensive.  I went up 4-1 and he started playing better, but I regrouped and won."

Kozlov played his first junior match of the year on Saturday, having spent the rest of the year on the ATP and ITF Pro Circuits.

"It's different," said Kozlov, a semifinalist last year. "Obviously I enjoy playing but the first couple of matches are challenging. It's a lot different than Futures and Challengers and stuff and like that. Here I just feel everyone I play just plays unbelievable the first couple of games. I'm kind of over the pressure, I've already lost second round here, so I'm getting mature, dealing with the pressure a little bit better, but it is tough, not to be nervous when you come out here and it's packed and you have all these people watching you. You want to impress everyone, so that's how it goes."

The top half of the 16s draw will also have two quarterfinal matches on Thursday, with top seed JJ Wolf meeting No. 25 seed Trent Bryde and No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson against No. 15 seed William Howells.

Wolf, who lost his first set of the tournament on Sunday, has had not trouble since and he eliminated No. 22 seed Kevin 6-3, 6-1 Wednesday morning.  Bryde defeated unseeded Zummy Bauer in a rare match between two players from the same city, in this case Suwanee, Georgia, 6-4, 6-1.

Kypson overcame No. 11 seed Brian Cernoch 7-5, 6-2 and Howells ousted No. 7 seed and 16s Clay Court champion Danny Thomas 6-1, 6-4.

No. 16 seed Jason Lui will have an extra day to savor his 6-7(0), 6-1, 7-5 win over unseeded Keenan Mayo, who had eliminated No. 2 seed Jake Van Emburgh in Tuesday's fourth round.  Lui was down 15-40 serving at 4-5 in the third set but some brave tennis got him out of that predicament.  He hit a backhand winner and a good first serve to get it to deuce, but Mayo got a third match point opportunity after Lui made an unforced error. Again Lui went for his shot, crushing a forehand winner, and two points later he had weathered the storm.  Mayo double faulted on game point to give Lui a chance to serve out the match, and he did, converting his second match point when Mayo's forehand went long.

"I just listen to what my coach says," said Lui, a 16-year-old from Bellevue, Washington, who trains with Brian Park at Sand Point in Seattle. "He tells me to focus on what I need to do, not the outcome. I just kind of let it go, and didn't think about losing the match, all the other what-if stuff. I just played my game, but i got kind of lucky at the end, with his double faults."

Lui had never played on Stowe Stadium's George Acker court, while Mayo had beaten Van Emburgh there on Tuesday.

"This is my first time, to play on one of these stadium courts, and I've never played with a crowd like this before," said Lui.  "So I was a little bit tight, but I got more comfortable as the match went on. I'm really relieved right now. I was really nervous the whole third set to be honest."

Lui will play No. 8 seed Kyrylo Tsygura on Friday, after Tsygura defeated unseeded Sean Hill 6-1, 6-3.

"I've never played him in a singles match, just a doubles match," said Lui. "But that was a long time ago. I'm just going to have to play my game and see how his is and adjust to it in the match as it goes."

The other quarterfinal on Friday will be between Alexandre Rotsaert, the No. 4 seed, and Sean Sculley, the No. 5 seed. Sculley defeated No. 9 seed Carson Haskins  6-4, 6-3 and Rotsaert downed No. 26 seed Trey Hilderbrand 6-4, 6-2.

The semifinals are set in the 18s doubles, after the Dinner at the Nats quarterfinal session was completed Wednesday night.

No. 6 seeds Joshua Sheehy and Parker Wynn defeated No. 9 seeds Rybakova and Nava 6-1, 7-5 and will meet No. 12 seeds Crawford and Johnathan Small, who beat Liam Caruana and Sameer Kumar, the No. 16 seeds, 6-3, 7-5.  No. 6 seeds Holt and Riley Smith defeated unseeded Blaine Boyden and Grey Hamilton 6-1, 6-4 and will face No. 2 seeds Fritz and Opelka, who beat No. 15 seeds Martin Joyce and Gianni Ross 6-3, 6-0.

The 18s doubles semifinals are scheduled for Friday, with the 16s doubles quarterfinals on Thursday.

The complete draws are available at ustaboys.com.

At the girls 18s in San Diego, top seeds Tornado Alicia Black and Usue Arconada have reached the round of 16, but No. 4 seed and Wimbledon quarterfinalist Michaela Gordon was eliminated, with Brienne Minor, a 17 seed, beating her 6-2, 6-4.  The 16s quarterfinals are set, with top seeds Natasha Subhash and Victoria Flores still alive. The TennisLink site has all the results.

In the Czech Republic, both of the USA's 14-and-under teams have advanced to the semifinals of the World Junior Tennis competition by winning their round robin groups.  For more on the final day of round robin competition, see the ITF junior website.

Top Seven Seeds Advance to Round of 16 in Kalamazoo 18s; Mayo Ousts No. 2 Seed Van Emburgh in 16s; Top Seeds in 18s and 16s Doubles Upset

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

Top seeds Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz moved into the round of 16 with straight-set wins Tuesday in the USTA Boys 18 National Championships, but French Open boys winner Tommy Paul was in trouble before pulling out a 6-7(6), 7-6(2), 6-0 win over No. 19 seed Gianni Ross.

With ideal weather and a full day tennis drawing a large crowd to the Stowe Stadium courts, Paul and Ross had plenty of witnesses to their contest.  Paul served for both sets, at 5-4 in the first and 5-3 in the second, but didn't get to a set point either time, as the 16-year-old Ross returned well and had no trouble hanging with Paul from the baseline.

"I started a little slow, but he's a good player," said Paul, 18. "He has a good backhand and really good forehand and when he has time, he can rip it. He hits the ball really clean, and was returning really well."

Paul dominated the second set tiebreaker, with Ross making some mistakes of both execution and shot selection. Paul closed it out with an ace, and the mandatory 10-minute break between sets did not slow his momentum.

"I was pretty tired, so I came up in the stands and laid down for a little bit," said Paul. "Then I went back down on the court to try to get my energy up."

"He played a really good match for the first two sets," Paul said. "Then in the third, I told myself to start hitting my forehand return, make every ball and run him to the forehand a little bit."

In Wednesday's round of 16, Paul will play another 16-year-old, No. 11 seed Oliver Crawford.

"I know him, he beat Will (Blumberg) here last year, didn't he?," Paul said. "We're friends, I know him, he came to USTA one time when I was there, but I have never really been on court with him."

Tiafoe advanced over unseeded Alexander Lebedev 6-4, 6-4, Fritz beat No. 29 seed Sameer Kumar 7-6(2), 6-2 and No. 3 seed Stefan Kozlov cruised past unseeded Vincent Rettke 6-1, 6-1.

Although it was not technically an upset when No. 22 seed Brandon Holt beat Henrik Wiersholm 7-5, 6-0, Holt certainly considered it one.

"Coming into it I thought it was going to be a tough match and one of the biggest wins of my life," said Holt, 17. "I'm speechless right now."

Holt, a rising senior, said he never really relaxed, even when he got his second break in the second set.

"I never actually relaxed," said Holt, the son of two-time US Open champion Tracy Austin. "In my [Southern California] sectionals, I was up 5-0 in the second set [of the final] and Kalman Boyd came back to 5-4 and I almost lost it. But I don't get super nervous. Everyone says I'm really calm and relaxed, so I guess that's a good thing."

Holt is on this trip with his father Scott, but he says although his mother doesn't coach him, she does accompany him to other tournaments, particularly the Winter Nationals in Arizona.

"There's pros and cons to having both," said Holt. "My dad's super relaxed and doesn't know as much about tennis, obviously, so it's more of a laid-back feeling. But with my mom, everything's set, ready to go. Right now I shouldn't be doing this, I should be stretching. She's super positive and looking forward. Both are great."

Although his mother taught him the game, she does not serve as his coach. He worked extensively with Peter Lucassen before the former USC player began traveling with Steve Johnson, and still does when Lucassen is in Southern California, but has no particular coach right now.

"I still hit with her sometimes, but not so much for coaching," said Holt. "She'll feed to me and stuff, but a lot of times to get her ready for an exhibition or get me ready for a tournament, or just because I want to hit some balls. So she's not so much a coach as she's always there for me when I need her. I mostly don't get advice on my strokes and things now. I just practice with the kids around, because there's a ton of good competition in California."

Holt has committed to USC for 2016, so beating Wiersholm, who has already spent a year at national rival Virginia, was special to him.

"I knew he was going to have all the pressure, because this was his last year, coming back from college and he has a lot of expectations," said Holt. "I knew he would be the one to get tight, and the times when I was supposed to get tight, I knew I had nothing to lose, deuce, break point, whatever. Up 4-0, I knew there was a chance he could still come back because on paper he is so much better than me, so I was just going to play my heart out. Even losing in three sets to him would be amazing, but I'm happy where I am and still want to keep going."

Holt will play No. 12 seed Eduardo Nava, who defeated unseeded Ben Vandixhorn 6-3, 6-0.

The 16s division produced the biggest upset to date, with unseeded Keenan Mayo defeating No. 2 seed Jake Van Emburgh 7-5, 6-3. Van Emburgh had lost the first set in his previous two matches, so Mayo was prepared for a possible third set.

"That's something that me and the coach I'm with talked about," said the 15-year-old Californian. "He was kind of letting up if he got down early, so I tried to bring the intensity early on, and I did that well in the first. I kind of let up a little bit, but still stayed on top enough and was mentally confident enough that I pulled through."

Mayo said the three-setters that Van Emburgh won in rounds two and three may have taken their toll.

"We also talked about how his legs may break down after a set," said Mayo. "And I definitely saw a little bit of that in the second set from him."

Having eliminated the No. 2 seed, Mayo likes his chances.

"I had a lot of confidence coming in," said Mayo, who reached the final of an ITF Grade 5 in Canada last month. "I was playing some good tennis before this tournament and now that I've beaten the two seed, the draw's opened up a bit, so I'm going to try to win the tournament."

16s No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson has dominated in his three victories, losing only eight games total, and he handled the pressure of playing on George Acker court today against unseeded Caleb Chakravarthi, rolling to a 6-2, 6-0 win. But after an emergency appendectomy and 12 days in the hospital, a tennis match doesn't have quite the same significance it had for him earlier this year.

"My appendix ruptured actually on the airplane to Guatemala," said the 15-year-old from North Carolina. "So we landed in Miami and I went to hospital and I had surgery. I got infections, because of the rupture. I was in the hospital in Miami for almost two weeks. That was the worst 12 days of my life. It was pretty scary. My dad (a cardiac surgeon) said I was pretty lucky to be alive after that."

As for his match against Chakravarthi, Kypson said he was certain that his opponent was much less comfortable on the main show court in front of so many spectators.

"Caleb hits the ball really well," said Kypson. "But I think playing on Court 1 in front of all those people really helped me a lot. I have a lot more experience in front of crowds and I think that favored me a lot more. I think he was pretty nervous in the beginning and I just took control of it."

Kypson has set his goals high for this year at Kalamazoo.

"I'm hitting the ball well, I like Kalamazoo, and I want to go all the way, I want to win this year," he said.

Top 16s seed JJ Wolf advanced to a round of 16 meeting with No. 22 seed Kevin Zhu by beating Andrew Ton 6-2, 6-2.

The doubles fourth round in both divisions produced four notable upsets.

Top seeds Michael Mmoh and Frances Tiafoe were beaten by No. 9 seeds Alex Rybakov and Eduardo Nava 6-1, 7-6(4), and No. 3 seeds Tommy Paul and Henrik Wiersholm lost to No. 12 seeds Oliver Crawford and Johnathan Small 4-6, 6-2, 10-8.  No. 2 seeds Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka now assume the favorite's role as the only Top 5 seeds still in the 18s draw.

The top two seeds in the 16s division also went down in the fourth round. No. 14 seeds Jackson Allen and Carson Haskins defeated top seeds Jake Van Emburgh and JJ Wolf 6-3, 2-6, 10-4 and No. 2 seeds Trent Bryde and Patrick Kypson were defeated by unseeded Alexander Brown and Brady Draheim 6-1, 6-4.

Complete results and Wednesday's schedule can be found at ustaboys.com.

July Aces; Top 18s Seeds Minimize Drama in Monday's Third Round at Kalamazoo

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

August and its huge junior tournaments are in full swing now, but have a look back at an eventful July in my monthly Aces column for the Tennis Recruiting Network, sponsored by Southern California Tennis Academy.

After a thunderstorm with heavy rain and lightning passed through Kalamazoo on Sunday evening, the temperatures dropped from the low 90s to the upper 70s, but the breezy conditions that have been around throughout the first three days of the tournament persisted. The top seeds at the USTA Boys 18 and 16 National Championships negotiated that challenge however, with just three 18s seeds and four 16s seeds falling, and none of those in the top 10.

After a scare on Sunday, 16s top seed JJ Wolf had no trouble with Jackson Allen, taking a 6-2, 6-1 decision, although No. 2 seed Jake Van Emburgh found himself down a set for the second day in a row before beating Ignacio Garcia 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.  No. 3 seed Patrick Kypson and No. 4 seed Alexandre Rotsaert collected straight set wins to reach Tuesday's fourth round.

The highest seed to fall in either division in Monday's third round was No. 14 Christian Alshon, who lost to Zummy Bauer 76(2), 6-1 in the 16s division. Phillip Quinn defeated No. 24 seed Ryan Goetz 6-1, 6-4, James Ignatowich downed No. 31 seed A.T. Pickens 7-5, 6-3 and Robert Baylon defeated No. 28 Chambers Easterling 6-2, 6-2.

One of the day's most exciting matches was played in front of a large crowd, who came to support Portage Central's Bill Duo in his match against 16s No. 26 seed Trey Hilderbrand. Duo and Hildebrand, taking center stage on the George Acker court 1, battled into a third-set tiebreaker before the match was decided in the Texan's favor 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(2).

Michael Mmoh, the No. 5 seed in the 18s, followed Duo and Hildebrand onto Court 1, against Nicholas Borchenko and the fans were treated to another three-setter, with Mmoh needing raise his game to earn a 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 victory.
Borchenko didn't hold back, particularly in the second set, when he broke Mmoh, assisted by two net cords in his favor, and served out the set.

USTA rules require a 10-minute break between the second and third sets, but Mmoh did not leave the court to talk to his coach Glenn Weiner.

"I didn't want to do anything I normally don't do, talk to Glenn or something," said Mmoh, who was a semifinalist last year. "I just stayed on the court, because I'm never going to do that in any other tournament, so I didn't feel the need to."

Mmoh said he was able to relax when he got an early break in the third.

"Credit to him, he played unbelievable," said Mmoh. "But I felt he got a little fortunate to get that break, so I thought if I kept on holding I would get my looks and I did, fortunately pretty early, and I thought it was a good match for me, a lot better than my first one."

"With the conditions, super fast courts, pretty windy, he was just serving and going for everything," Mmoh said. "That was his game plan, and it's tough to weather that sometimes."

Mmoh, who won a Futures tournament in Illinois two weeks ago, said that helps him, even though there's an obvious difference between pro and junior events.

"It actually helps a lot," Mmoh said. "Matches like these, I may be a little bit more nervous, more anxious if I wasn't playing well coming into the tournament. So I think it helps confidence-wise a lot. The courts were really slow there, but I was playing really well there, definitely."

Mmoh's friend and doubles partner, top seed Frances Tiafoe, who won his match against Lubomir Cuba 6-3, 6-3, also mentioned the tricky conditions at Stowe Stadium.

"The conditions were pretty tough, it's pretty windy right now," said Tiafoe. "And the early rounds are not easy, especially when you don't know the guys you are playing and they are obviously going to play their best against you. You just have to be up, ready for anything, just look at Mmoh's match. The guy is bombing serves and ripping forehands. You can't take anyone for granted out here."

Tiafoe is training at the USTA's Boca Raton National Center now, but is on his own this week.

"Nico(Todero) and Jose(Higueras) are my two coaches," Tiafoe said. "Nico's not here but Jose will be here watching over all the Americans. I'm pretty much here alone this week, no real coach. I have Vesa (Ponkka) from College Park, but he's pretty much with the College Park kids. I just want him to watch my matches, get a little insight after my matches. But I'm setting up my practices. I know what I need to get ready, I don't really think a coach is really needed here. The work is already supposed to be done before you get out here, and there's only so much a coach can tell you during match play and I think I know what I need to do."

No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz, showing no ill effects from the knee injury that hampered him in his second round match on Saturday, closed out the day with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Asher Hirsch, while Stefan Kozlov, the No. 3 seed, overcame a slow start to defeat Charles Tan 6-3, 6-3.

The three seeded 18s players to fall were No. 17 Nick Stachowiak, No. 18 Spencer Furman and No. 31 seed Jacob Brumm.  Ben Vandixhorn defeated Stachowiak 6-4, 6-1, Vincent Rettke beat Brumm 6-2, 6-1 and Alexander Lebedev took out Furman 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.

No-shows are not unusual in the consolation tournament, but are nearly unheard of in the main draw. Vincent Lin was the beneficiary of that rare occurrence today when Alafia Ayeni failed to show up for their match and was defaulted.

The third round of 16s doubles was played this afternoon at Western Michigan University and the top seeded teams of Wolf and Van Emburgh and Kypson and Trent Bryde advanced with straight-set victories.

The fourth round of doubles in both divisions will be played Tuesday afternoon at Stowe Stadium.

Results, draws and match times are available at ustaboys.com.

Top 16s Seeds Wolf and Van Emburgh Survive Close Calls in Kalamazoo Second Round; Di Lorenzo Wins Austin $10K; ITF World Junior Tennis Competition Starts Monday

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

JJ Wolf and Jake Van Emburgh, the top two seeds in the 16s, staved off major upsets Sunday in the second round of the USTA Boys Nationals at Stowe Stadium, with Wolf defeating Drew Baird 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 and Van Emburgh beating Lucas Biondi 4-6, 6-3 7-6(0).

Although the temperature reached 90 degrees and the winds gusted over 25 mph later in the afternoon, the swirling breeze was mostly just a nuisance when Wolf and Van Emburgh took on Baird and Biondi on show courts 2 and 3.

Wolf saved a break point at 4-4 in the third with a good first serve, then held with a world class down the line backhand winner, putting the pressure squarely back on Baird.  Serving at 4-5, Baird couldn't find his first serve, and a couple of errors made it 30-all. A big Wolf forehand into the corner forced an error from Baird to set up match point, and when Baird missed a short forehand putaway wide, Wolf had the victory.

"I knew I was going to have to fight," said Wolf, a 16-year-old from Cincinnati. "He was such a good player, I knew it could go either way. He hit the ball really cleanly, so it was tough on the faster courts of Kalamazoo."

Wolf said he worked out his nerves after the first set, but soon discovered attacking his 14-year-old opponent's one-handed backhand was not productive.

"I tried to go there, but he stepped up and hit it pretty well," said Wolf, who won the 16s Winter Nationals in January. "So I wasn't going to go out of my way to hit it to his backhand. I just hit my crosscourt shots and did what I could."

As precarious a position as Wolf was in, his doubles partner Van Emburgh was in even more danger. Down 3-1 in the final set, he won four straight games to serve for the match, but then double faulted at 30-40 to make it 5-5.  Biondi, who hadn't held serve since the first game of the set, held at 15 to make it 6-5 and Van Emburgh needed his second hold of the set just to force a tiebreaker.

After Biondi missed a forehand in the first point of the game, Van Emburgh finally found the rhythm on his serve, hitting three consecutive aces to send the match into a tiebreaker.  Biondi, a 16-year-old from New York, netted a forehand on the first point and Van Emburgh took it from there, with a combination of his winners, including another ace, and Biondi's errors giving him the next six points as well.

"Those aces definitely gave me a huge jump into the tiebreak," said Van Emburgh, who has recently relocated to the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, where his father has taken a coaching position. "I had some doubts there at the end when I couldn't hold my serve serving for the match, and I thought here we go. But then I found it, and once I got up 3-0 in the breaker, I was, okay, I've got this match, this is my match."

Van Emburgh said he felt nauseous throughout the match and also turned his ankle, which required a medical timeout for taping by the trainer.

"I don't know what was wrong," Van Emburgh said of his queasy feeling throughout the match. "I never get tired, or sick so it was like a first thing for me. I felt really crappy the whole time. So I was lucky to be able to hang in there and fight my way through."

Van Emburgh, who turns 17 next month, was confident his doubles partner would do the same, when he looked over to see Wolf trailing in his match.

"I was surprised when he lost the first set, but I knew he wasn't going to lose the match," said Van Emburgh. "It's just how he is."

Although the top two seeds survived, nine seeded 16s players did not. No. 13 seed Andrew Fenty lost to William Grattan-Smith 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, No. 17 seed Kevin Ma was beaten by Jeremy Yuan 6-3, 6-1 and No. 18 seed Robert Maciag was defeated by Andrew Ton 6-4, 6-4. No. 19 seed Abhijeet Joshi was defeated by Sean Hill 7-5, 7-6(1), No. 20 seed William Peters lost to Caleb Chakravarthi 6-4, 6-4 and No. 21 seed Jaycer Lyeons was beaten by Matthew Rodriguez 6-4, 2-6, 6-3. No. 29 seed John Speicher lost to Arjith Jayaraman 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, No. 30 seed Ajai Shekhera was defeated by Bryce Pereira 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 and No. 32 seed Cotter Wilson lost to Keenan Mayo 6-3, 6-4.

The second round of 16s doubles saw top seed Van Emburgh and Wolf and No. 2 seeds Trent Bryde and Patrick Kypson advance in straight sets.

The only 18s action on Sunday was the third round of doubles, with the top three seeded teams of Michael Mmoh and Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Reilly Opelka, and Tommy Paul and Henrik Wiersholm all advancing in straight sets at the windswept courts at Western Michigan University.

Complete results and draws are at ustaboys.com.

Monday will feature third round singles play for both divisions, with the 16s beginning at 8 a.m. and the 18s starting at 12:30 p.m.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Francesca Di Lorenzo, who will start this fall at Ohio State, won the $10,000 Pro Circuit event in Austin, Texas, beating Lauren Herring, the recent Georgia grad, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 in Sunday's final.  Di Lorenzo is scheduled to play in the USTA Girls 18s Nationals in San Diego on Monday at 10 a.m.

Evan King won the $15,000 Futures in Edwardsville, beating Clay Thompson 6-4, 6-3.  Bobby Knight has full coverage of the former Michigan Wolverine's win over the former UCLA Bruin at College Tennis Today.

The ITF's 14-and-under World Junior Tennis Championships get underway on Monday in the Czech Republic with the Russian girls and Korean boys the top seeds.  The USA teams (the players representing the US are here) are both No. 1 in their round robin groups, meaning they are expected to advance to the semifinals.  The ITF Junior website article about the draw is here.

Top Kalamazoo 18s Seeds Survive After Anxious Moments; Wiersholm Defeats No. 8 Seed Blumberg, Stalder Ousts Riffice

©Colette Lewis 2015--
Kalamazoo, MI--

Not much came easy for the top seeds as they took to the Stowe Stadium courts for the first time in round two of the USTA Boys 18s Nationals.

Although No. 1 seed Frances Tiafoe picked up a routine 6-1, 6-3 win over Billy Rowe, No. 2 seed Taylor Fritz was just two points into his match with Alex Ross when something went awry with his knee.

"I don't know what shot I did it on," said Fritz, who won the match 6-1, 6-2. "It was one of two shots. One shot I jumped up and back for a deep forehand, so I could have landed funny on it, and then later on that point I went up and stop-started on that knee, so that might be what did it. I think I just jammed my knee in. I felt this weird pain on the next shot I hit on that point, it was bad actually. It was so painful when I went to serve, so I asked for a medical timeout."

The trainer wrapped the knee, and Fritz won that game and the next two, without being able to use his normal service motion.

"When I got back on, I still couldn't put any weight on it," Fritz said. "Any bending and pushing hurt. With the pain I was having, there was no chance I could play, but I was winning, so I kept playing. He was missing a lot of first serves, so I could move around his second serve and go for a winner. In the second set, he made more first serves and in the second set it started feeling better and better. I still couldn't do my full serve. But I'm not too worried about it."

No. 5 seed Michael Mmoh, who won a Futures title last week in Illinois, had his hands full with Sam Turchetta, but Turchetta blinked in the first set tiebreaker and Mmoh took advantage, closing out the match 7-6(0), 6-3. Nick Bollettieri, who is an honorary referee at the tournament, has mentored Mmoh throughout his five years at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, and watched Mmoh's performance while enjoying a picture-perfect midsummer day in Kalamazoo.

Wimbledon champion Reilly Opelka, the No. 6 seed, also had some nervous moments in the first set, falling behind Paul Barretto 3-1 before recovering for a 7-6(6), 6-3 win. No. 7 seed Alex Rybakov also was down early against Aron Pierce, with Pierce having four set points serving at 5-4, but Rybakov saved them all, won the subsequent tiebreaker and went on to a 7-6(4), 6-1 win.

No. 4 seed Tommy Paul needed only one set, which he won 6-2, to advance to the third round, with Lane Leschly retiring with a leg injury.  No. 3 seed Stefan Kozlov was tested by Ole Miss rising sophomore Grey Hamilton, but last year's semifinalist hit some clutch backhand winners late to take a 6-4, 6-4 decision.

No. 8 seed William Blumberg was the only top 8 seed failing to advance, with Henrik Wiersholm defeating him 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.  Wiersholm trailed 4-2 in the final set, but played error-free tennis in the final four games to get the win. A stunning running forehand winner at 4-all in the third got him the break, and he had no difficulty serving it out.

"It really came down to a couple of points here and there," said Wiersholm, the 2012 16s champion. "There was one point where I just hit a great passing shot. He should have won that. If he wins that point, you're probably talking to Will right now, to be honest."

Wiersholm knew Blumberg had been ill and pulled out of doubles on Friday, but thought that may not have been an advantage for him.

"He has a sinus infection, so he was breathing heavy at points, but I think that made him actually go after his shots more," said Wiersholm. "And when Will's going after his shots, he's really tough to play, because he has such good timing. The first set was kind of a blur. He was teeing off, I was hitting a little bit short and he was playing good ball. Fast tennis and 6-1 just like that. I told myself you have to recognize he's firing on all cylinders and you have to step it up now, hitting the ball deeper, moving him up and back and I was able to do that in the second set."

Wiersholm, who was seeded No. 12 last year, but is unseeded this year after a year at the University of Virginia, was philosophical about that position. And in teammate Collin Altamirano, who won the tournament unseeded in 2013, he has a blueprint if he needs one to inspire him.

"Collin is a great example of how seeding doesn't really matter," Wiersholm said. "If you want to win the tournament, which is the goal of all these players here, you have to beat everybody. So if I have to start early--first round was just as tough as this one, I played another great player--so be it. Just get after it."

Blumberg was the highest seed to fall in the second round, but far from the only one.

At a match played late in the afternoon at Western Michigan University, Reese Stalder defeated No. 9 seed and Clay Court champion Sam Riffice 6-4, 2-6, 7-6(6). According to those at the match, the last twenty minutes of the match featured great tennis and great sportsmanship by both players, with both playing to win until Stalder collected the final point of the match.

No. 15 seed Eric Rutledge lost to Michael Genender 6-2, 6-1, No. 16 seed Zeke Clark lost to Logan Smith 6-3, 6-4 and 2014 16s finalist Connor Hance, the No. 21 seed this year in 18s, lost to Grayson Broadus 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.  No. 26 seed Kalman Boyd lost to Jack Turchetta 6-4, 7-5, No. 27 seed Andrew Heller was beaten by Vincent Lin 6-2, 6-2 and No. 32 seed Matthew Gamble lost to Ryan Dickerson 7-5, 6-4.

First round action in the boys 16s began Saturday, with all seeded players and doubles teams starting their tournament on Sunday. The boys 18s have only the third round of doubles on Sunday.

Complete draws with results can be found at ustaboys.com