While it was a much smoother day of action of the seeded competitors in boys’ singles action, numerous seeds were taken out of the main draw on the girls’ side on Sunday as played continued at the 2018 USTA National Winter Championships, part of the USTA adidas Junior National Championships Series. As the singles draws were whittled down to the round of 32, an additional six seeds in the girls’ 16s and six seeds in the girls’ 18s failed to advance.

Just a pair of seeds remains in the top quarter of the girls’ 16s, as things have really opened up for No. 1 Leyden Games (Southern California), who got past Katie Andreini (Southern) 7-6(4), 6-0. The earliest she could face a fellow seeded competitor is now the quarterfinals should No. 11 Alexis Blokhina (Florida) reach the final eight; Blokhina has dropped just 13 games in her two matches so far. The stunning result within the division came in the form of Sankavi Gownder (Texas) coming through with a solid 6-4, 6-3 defeat of third-seeded Sonia Maheshwari (Southern). Within that same section of the draw, No. 10 Sophia Fornaris dropped a marathon 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4) result to Amber McGinnis in a battle of players hailing from the Sunshine State.

In the bottom half of the girls’ 16s draw, only three of the No. 17 seeds faltered on the day. DJ Bennett (Florida) stormed past Kathryn Treiber (Midwest) 6-2, 6-2, while Katie Codd (Southern California) was even more impressive in beating Mia Kintiroglou (Eastern) 6-2, 6-0. Emma Charney (Southern) also held off McHaley Ho (Texas) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Aneesa Lee (Southern California) continued to live up to her top billing in the girls’ 18s, easing by Allison Zipoli (Midwest) 6-0, 6-4. She will take on unseeded Ayshe Can (Florida), who won a highly-competitive match versus fellow Floridian No. 17 Maggie Pate 7-6(4), 6-4. Sophia Hatton (Eastern) and Ashley Huang (Middle States), also 17th seeds, were dropped out of the main draw on day two; Ashley Krueger (Texas) defeated Hatton 6-4, 6-2 and Anastasia Sysoeva (Florida) handled Huang 6-1, 7-6(2).

Another unseeded player representing Florida, Dax Seidlin, was responsible for the biggest upset within the division, posting a dominant 6-2, 6-1 performance over No. 10 Neha Velaga (Middle States). Joining Velaga in the consolation draw will be No. 17 Margaret Polk (Southern), who fell to Renna Mohsen-Breen (Middle States) 6-3, 6-3, along with Callie Creath (Texas) after she lost to Sophia Edwards (Florida) 6-2, 6-3.

Boys’ 16s top seed Jack Anthrop (Florida) produced his second 6-2, 6-1 score line of the tournament to move into the round of 32, where he will go up against another unseeded competitor in Tristan Sarap (Southern California). The only two upsets in the draw were served up by players from the Southern Section – Braden Shick ousted No. 16 Maxwell Smith (Southern) 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 and William Fullett (Southern) edged past No. 17 JC Roddick (Texas) 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-4.

No. 1 Leighton Allen (Texas) also highlighted a fairly uneventful day of boys’ 18s action, beating Andrew Ilie (New England) 6-2, 6-2. Next up for him is No. 17 Jeremie Casabon (Middle States), who has dropped only eight games so far. Three other players slotting in as No. 17 seeds were not as fortunate on Sunday. Theo Winegar came up short in an all-Florida matchup with Daniel Lins 7-5, 6-3, while Georgi Mavrodiev was on the losing end against Benjamin Koch – 6-2, 7-5 – in a clash of two Southern representatives. Unseeded Michael Andre (Intermountain) also raced past Huntley Allen (Southern) 6-2, 6-2.

Monday’s schedule of play is set to get underway starting at 9 a.m. For more information on the 2018 USTA National Winter Championships, click here.