Yesterday Saturday featured 16 first round Boys Qualy matches, followed later in the day by 8 second round matches. The Girls Qualy Draw included 27 players and 5 byes, so there were only 11 first round Girls matches. The rest of the Qualy will take place on Sunday, featuring 4 third round Boys matches and 8 Girls second round matches followed by the last 4 Girls matches that comprise the third round.
The tournament setting has been spectacular, as fans can view action on 8 courts almost simultaneously from the elevated mezzanine area. As with all indoor courts, players no longer must contend with windy conditions or the difficult serve toss at 11am with the sun directly overhead.
Most Boys matches went according to ranking but 2 of the 8 seeds went down in the first round. There were some good matches with similarly ranked players but only 3 matches went to 3 sets. In the second round, 3 of the 8 matches went to 3 sets and only 3 seeds remain (4, 7, and 8) going into Round 3. Of the 8 remaining players 7 rank from 192 to 335 (averaging 260), except for Wild Card Ryan BEDWICK of USA ranked 847. Ryan had been sidelined for months with a wrist injury but is now back and just won in doubles the J60 tournament in San Jose this past week.
Girls Qualy first round matches were mostly lopsided affairs. All 8 seeds remain going into the second round where we anticipate stronger matchups with most rankings ranging from lower 200’s to upper 300’s, except for 3 players with higher rankings. This includes Aarini BHATTACHARYA of USA ranked 596 who played in the final of the J60 event in San José the very same day. The Girls will play 2 rounds on Sunday to determine the final 4 that will get their ticket to the Main Draw which starts Monday morning.
