Second round play in singles was completed on Wednesday, and in the Boys Draw surprises continued. Two of the three matches highlighted yesterday resulted in major upsets. The first was Ian MAYEW from the Qualy and ranked 269 defeating top seed Nikita FILIN ranked 58 by 6-1, 7-6, although the WTN rating of the players at 11.4 for MAYEW and 10.5 for FILIN suggested a tight match. Kase SCHINNERER eliminated Jack SECORD in a tough 3 sets 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 where both players had practically identical WTN ratings (12.2 and 12.4). The second upset was wild card Dominick MOSEJCZUK of USA ranked 234 taking out third seed Rafael SEGADO of Spain rankled 77 in straight sets 7-5, 6-1. Rounding out the top half of the draw MAXIMUS DASSAULT ranked 123 dispatched Boxiong ZHANG of China by a surprisingly easy 6-2,6-2. The top half of the draw is now an all USA affair and wide open as all seeds have been eliminated, although MAYEW has the best WTN rating of 11.4.
In the bottom half of the draw Qualifier Yubel UBRI of USA but with Dominican roots beat the talented Rafael BOTRAN of Guatemala in straight sets in night play, to the delight of the fans. Like the Gladiator, Yubel “won the crowd” with his enthusiasm and delightful demeanor. In the remaining matches Matisse FARZAM of USA won in straight sets, as did Russian Dmitry BESSONOV over Qualifier Fredrik SOLHEIM of Norway. Rounding out the bottom half of the draw, no. 2 seed Miguel TOBON of Colombia ranked 69 beat Jordan REZNIK of USA ranked 140 by 6-3, 6-4. TOBON with WTN rating of 12.2 is now the only seed left and the man to beat in a wide open Boys Draw.
In the Girls Draw second round play has resulted in all seeded players occupying the 4 slots in the top half: Kaitlyn ROLLS of USA ranked 63 as seed 1, Jeline VANDROMME of Belgium ranked 105 as seed 5, Margot PHANTALA of France ranked 88 as seed 4, and Shannon LAM of USA ranked 112 and seeded 7. The first 3 girls won their second round matches in straight sets while LAM needed 3 sets to turn back her opponent Krisha MAHENDRAN of India. Despite the rankings, VANDROMME and LAM have the best WTN ratings in the draw at 12.1 and 13.1 respectively.
In the bottom half of the draw only 1 seed remains: Monika EKSTRAND of USA who dispatched her Spanish opponent Meritxell TEIXIDO easily 6-0, 6-2. Unseeded Kristina PENICKOVA ranked 137 (WTN of 13.1) and Thea FRODIN ranked 123, both from USA, won their second round matches in 3 sets over tough opponents, who were wild card Kayla CHUNG of USA and the tough Viola Bedini of Italy respectively. The last spot in the draw was taken by Naomi XU of Canada by ousting Mexican Natalia FANTINI who had taken out no. 2 seed Claire AN in the first round. Naomi was a Copa 57 finalist and is a tough draw as she hits a high bouncing ball that is difficult to return with pace. Quarterfinals, here we are.
