The Boys Round of 16 matches so far have been by the book, with mainly seeded players prevailing over lesser ranked opponents. Two matches remain for night play: top seed Alvaro FRUTOS ALONSO of Paraguay ranked 67 squaring off against Canadian wild card Felix ROUSSEL ranked 761, and Dutch player Stan PUT ranked 159 taking on no. 6 seed Marcel LATAK of USA ranked 79. Four of the 6 matches played have been in straight sets and 4 seeded players have cruised to the QF: no. 3 Israeli Dan BRAND, no. 4 Frenchman Mathys DOMENC, no. 5 seed Xavier MASSOTTE of Canada, and no. 8 Rhys LAWLOR of GBR, with only LAWLOR stretched to 3 sets. In the bottom quarter of the draw both seeded players have been eliminated, and the aptly named Agassi RUSHER of USA made it to the QF by besting Slovakian Marco BEKENI by 6-4, 7-6(7). BEKENI had knocked off no. 7 seed Lenny PETIT of Monaco in the first round. The last daylight singles match has been a marathon 3 hour encounter between Takahiro KAWAGUCHI of Japan and American Daniel MALACEK who came in from the Qualy. MALACEK had eliminated no. 2 seed Benjamin AZAR of Canada in the first round. The Japanese player had cramped in Tuesday night play and was a question mark for today, but apparently has recovered since he was able to finish a grueling 3 hour 3 setter, prevailing in the end 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in a 10-8 tiebreak.
The 8 Girls matches comprising the Round of 16 were played in the morning of Day 3. Seven of the 8 went down in straight sets with only 1 match going the distance to 3 sets. Four of these matches went as expected with all remaining seeds getting into the QF, and the other 4 matches were somewhat surprising. Top seeds Welles NEWMAN (1) and Margaret SOHNS (2) both of USA had uncomplicated matches against lesser ranked wild card opponents and coasted into the QF, as did 4th seed Janae PRESTON who dispatched the talented qualifier Daniella BRITTON 6-4, 6-1, and 7th seed Czech Klara BLAZKOVA who eliminated similarly ranked Ireland O’BRIEN of USA by 6-3, 6-2.
The other 4 Girls matches were more intriguing as lesser ranked girls defeated opponents of better ranking. The most noteworthy of these was American Hannah AYRAULT, in from the Qualy and ranked 344 who beat Czech Lucie SLAMENICKOVA ranked 171 by the rather easy margin of 6-4, 6-2. Hammerin’ Hannah has impressed tennis fans with her hard hitting and aggressive style, and is a player to watch. Israeli player Ofir MANHARD ranked 187 overpowered Mexican Marianne ANGEL ranked 116 in another comfortable win by 6-2, 6-3. The third surprise was Sarah YE ranked 136 eliminating Jordyn HAZELITT, both girls from the USA, but in a more difficult 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Finally, the Czech player Katerina ZAJICKOVA ranked 164 dispatched Lani CHANG of USA ranked 127.
Doubles first round action was played out during Tuesday afternoon. Doubles is difficult to handicap as placement is a bit mysterious in comparison to singles where ranking determines position on the Acceptance List. In doubles, whose ranking determines, and who gets seeded? Even people in the know, such as referees and tournament directors seem to be at a loss for words to explain doubles rankings into the draws. It seems that only the ITF algorithm knows how this works. In Boys Doubles the top 3 seeds were eliminated in the first round, and in Girls Doubles seeds 3 and 4 went out leaving the top 2 seeds still in the draw.
