The opening day of the 2019 USTA National Campus UTR Summer Jam Level 7 was shortened due to heavy rain that moved in Saturday afternoon. Before the suspension of play, a number of unseeded competitors scored upsets.

A total of three No. 1 seeds faltered over the course of the day. In the Boys’ 2.00-3.03 Draw, Joshua Thorpe (Ormond Beach) defeated top-seeded Chase McKinnon (Boca Raton) 7-5, 6-3. Orlando native Tristan Bradu posted an impressive 6-1, 6-1 victory over No. 1 seed Saahhil Lakhani (Orlando) in the semifinals of the Boys’ 3.04-3.57 Draw. On the girls’ side, Veronika Nash (Daytona Beach) breezed past top seed TaKaii Adderley (Fort Lauderdale) by a 6-1, 6-2 score line in the quarterfinals of the 2.98-4.15 Draw.

It turned out both seeds would be sent into consolation play in the Boys’ 2.00-3.03 Draw, as second seed Dalton Burroughs (Sarasota) fell to Michael Rybak (Palm Coast) 7-5, 6-2. Bradu will look to topple the other seed in the 3.04-3.57 Draw when he goes up against No. 2 seed Daniel Krechler (Prague, Czech Republic) in the final. The top four seeds nearly rounded out the semifinalists in the Boys’ 3.58-5.04 12s-14s Draw, but Jordan Lee (Orlando) outlasted second-seeded Sam Govina (Tampa) 2-6, 6-4, 10-3. No. 3 seed Ivan Urbanovich (Winter Garden) narrowly avoided being upset by Dennis Oliveira, escaping with a 6-7, 6-4, 10-8 result. A similar story played out in the Boys’ 5.18-5.97 Draw, where only No. 2 seed Brady Steeves (Lakeland) failed to reach the final four thanks to a solid 6-4, 6-3 effort by Gilberto Gortari Jr. (Orlando) in the opening round.

For both the Boys’ 3.73-5.17 14-18s and the Boys’ 6.06-8.19 Draws, only one round was completed on Saturday. All four seeds in the 3.73-5.17 division got through the first round in straight sets. Meanwhile, No. 3 seed Alex Bludworth (Winter Park) came up short against Jose Carlos Andrade (Coral Gables) 6-2, 6-2 in his first match while the other three seeds moved on to the quarterfinals.

Although Ana Varas (Orlando), the No. 1 seed in the Girls’ 1.08-2.98 Draw, battled her way back to a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 triumph over Leila Phou (Orlando) to stay in contention for the title, No. 2 seed Jazmin McShane (Deland) and fourth seed Gabrielle Pisarczyk (Ormond Beach) were not as fortunate. McShane dropped a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Rachel Ames (Ocala) and Pisarczyk was taken down by Lauren Cisco (Vero Beach) 7-5, 6-1.

Stunningly, none of the four seeded players got through to the semifinals in the Girls’ 2.98-4.15 Draw. Second seed Sonia Govina (Tampa) and No. 3 seed Jada Hutto (Lakeland) were upset in the first round, falling to Isabella Pisarczyk (Sunrise) and Marcella Warner (Flagler Beach), respectively. Fourth-seeded Mahek Lakhani (Orlando) joined Adderly in suffering a loss in the quarterfinals, as she could not prevent Clarice Ouvarova (Bunnell) from coming back to win 6-4, 1-6, 10-4. The four competitors earning a seed in the Girls’ 4.16-6.14 Draw made it through to the quarterfinals before rain stopped play, with only No. 3 Peyton Battilla (Auburndale) needing a match tiebreak to secure the win.

Unseeded Lexie Flores (Riverside, Calif.) has already locked up her spot in the final of the Girls’ 6.56-8.31 Draw with a pair of straight-set victories, the second a 7-6, 6-1 upset of No. 2 seed Gabriela Smashey (Cooper City). The other semifinal has top seed Lilly Pleasant pitted against fellow Orlando native Meadow Garcia.   

Sunday’s action gets underway at 7:30 a.m., starting with matches that were not completed Saturday. For more information on the 2019 USTA National Campus UTR Summer Jam Level 7, click here.