An early start and another extended lightning delay made day two of the 2018 USTA National Doubles Championships, part of the adidas Junior Championship Series, a chaotic one; however, all matches on the schedule were eventually completed and the four Gold Ball matchups are set for Saturday.

Both the boys’ 14s and girls’ 16s divisions saw the Nos. 1-4 seeds reach the semifinal rounds while only the teams seeded third failed to reach that stage in the boys’ 16s and girls’ 14s.

Top seeds Liv Hovde (Texas) and Ava Krug (Florida) put an end to the run of unseeded pair Lilly Pleasant (Florida) and Lexington Reed (Florida) with a 6-2, 6-4 effort in the girls’ 14s quarterfinals. In the bottom half of the draw, No. 4 seeds Elizabeth Tkachenko and Stephanie Yakoff from Eastern were made to work for their spot in Saturday’s championship match. In their first contest of the day, Tkachenko and Yakoff turned away unseeded Southern tandem Alice Otis and Piper Charney 6-4, 7-5. A semifinal clash with No. 2 seeds Isabella Brilliant and Madison Smith of Intermountain turned into a roller coaster affair. The fourth seeds managed to pull out the opening frame in a tiebreak, seven points to two, but failed to maintain momentum, dropping the second set 6-3. However, Tkachenko and Yakoff quickly put that disappointment behind them to close out the third comfortably, 6-3.

Even though the girls’ 16s final will feature the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the division, very little came easy to either duo along the way. After narrowly escaping in the first round, top seeds Sophia Fornaris (Florida) and Mia Kintiroglou (Eastern) needed a tightly-contest straight-set along with a back-and-forth three-set triumph on Friday to make their way into the final. No. 8 seeds Natalie Block and Lara Smejkal from Florida had their sights set on the No. 1 seeds, but came up just short on the big points in a 7-5, 7-6(6) result. Third seeds Julia Fliegner and Soren Leichter representing Midwest actually raced out to a one set lead versus Fornaris and Kintiroglou, only to see them turn the tables and pull away late for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 semifinal win. Second-seeded Kate Sharabura (Southern) and Sophie Williams (Southern) also went three sets to start the tournament. Furthermore, the duo also needed to dig deep and produce a comeback in the semifinals late Friday evening. Up against a fellow Southern team in No. 4 seeds Emma Charney and Brooke Despriet, Sharabura and Williams trailed by a set before eventually forcing a decisive third. In that frame, neither team found reaching the finish line a simple task, with the No. 2 seeds eventually finding a way to prevail seven games to five.

Boys’ 14s No. 1 seeds John Lasanajak (Southern) and Cooper Williams (Eastern) were tested Friday morning before holding off Santiago Cardenas (Florida) and Ethan Schiffman (Southern California) 6-3, 7-6(8). The top-seeded pair was much sharper in the semifinals, brushing aside No. 4 seeds Thomas Kennedy and Aditya Narayanan of Southern 6-1, 6-1.

Unseeded hopefuls Joshua Miller and Logan Zapp of the Florida Section continued their solid play, posting two more victories in straight sets to safely move into the boys’ 16s final. The duo began the day by easing past Eastern’s Ryan Glanville and Justin Speaker 6-1, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Clashing with top seeds and fellow Florida tandem Connor and Jake Krug figured to be a much tougher challenge, but Miller and Zapp came through 6-4, 6-2. In four matches, Miller and Zapp have dropped just 20 games. Awaiting them in the final will be the fourth-seeded team of Alex Finkelstein and Nathan Mao representing New England. The 2017 champions in the 14s divisions have also not surrendered a set en route to the championship round. On Friday, Finkelstein and Mao battled past Florida’s No. 7 seeds Carter Morgan and Ben Shelton 7-6(4), 7-5 in the quarterfinals before breezing by the second-seeded Southern pair of Ashe Ray and Maxwell Smith 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals.

As a Level 1 USTA National Championship, players will earn Level 1 National Rankings Points; additionally, top finishers in each division will also receive the USTA’s coveted Gold, Silver and Bronze Balls.

Play continues Saturday morning at 9 a.m., including the boys’ and girls’ 16s finals. The boys’ and girls’ 14s finals are slated for 11 a.m. For more information on the 2018 USTA National Doubles Championships, click here.